Tuesday, September 5, 2023
We hope you had a great Labor Day weekend. As the (abbreviated) work week gets underway, we look at a court case with large political ramifications, Georgia’s governor putting his foot down over moves by pro-Trump Georgia Republicans to undermine the Fulton County district attorney, and what Coastal Georgia’s congressman has said about another “big mess” looming in Washington.
Back to the map?
The stakes are high in a court case getting underway in Atlanta today: Democrats could gain a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and numerous seats in the General Assembly if U.S. District Judge Steve Jones rules Republicans drew maps that illegally weakened the power of Black voters, the Associated Press reports.
The state legislature’s Republican majority redrew voting districts in 2020, eliminating a Democratic seat and boosting their majority of the state’s delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives from 8-6 to 9-5. If the plaintiffs win, the balance could revert to 8-6.
Republicans currently hold a 102-78 majority in the state House and a 33-23 majority in the state Senate. While a plaintiff’s victory is unlikely to flip control in either chamber, additional Black-majority districts in the Senate and House could elect Democrats who would narrow Republican margins.
The non-jury trial is expected to last two weeks.
‘Reckless course of action’
To the dismay of the pro-Trump forces in the Georgia GOP, Gov. Brian Kemp last week declared he wouldn’t support a special session of the Georgia General Assembly to investigate and defund Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis after she announced indictments against former President Donald Trump and 18 other defendants.
Speaker Jon Burns (R-Newington) joined the governor in shooting down the idea, calling it in a letter to House Republicans a “reckless course of action.”
The governor’s move sparked a fusillade of epithets from pro-Trump Georgia Republicans including “spineless scumbag” and “Judas.” Their next course of action is unclear.
But one source of solace were two polls and the prospect that the Republican presidential candidate next year will all but be decided before Georgia holds its Republican presidential primary on March 12.
Trump is the top choice of nearly 60% of all Republican voters nationwide, according to a Wall Street Journal poll released Friday. And in a poll of likely primary voters in Georgia, also released Friday, Trump was the choice of 57% of likely primary voters, more than 40 percentage points ahead of his closest challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Another 2020 battlefront: Late Friday, Kemp appointed a three-member commission to decide whether state Sen. Shawn Stills, one of the 19 defendants in the Fulton County election interference case, should be suspended from the legislature while the case is pending. The commission’s three members — Attorney General Chris Carr, Sen. Steve Gooch (R-Dahlonega), Rep. Chuck Efstration (R-Auburn) — have 14 days to rule.
‘A pretty big mess’
The U.S. Senate returns from its August recess today. The House of Representatives returns next Tuesday. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans will then have 11 days to fund the government or risk a shutdown before a new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
“No one wants to shut down — whether you’re an independent or Republican or Democrat, First District U.S. Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter told Fox Business in late July. “Shutdown is just not good.”
But a government shutdown seems increasingly possible.
McCarthy has spoken of a stop-gap funding measure to prevent a shutdown and give lawmakers more time to hash out their differences over spending bills.
But Republicans hold a narrow five-seat majority in the House and the conservative Freedom Caucus says it won’t support such a measure that without conditions, including addressing what it calls the “unprecedented weaponization of the Justice Department and FBI” to conduct political “witch hunts.”
“It’s a pretty big mess,” Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said last week of government funding negotiations.
To add to the disarray, McCarthy also says the House could launch impeachment proceedings against President Joe Biden this month.
In response to a question at a tele-town hall last Tuesday, Carter said McCarthy was “leaning towards” introducing articles of impeachment against Biden but didn’t say whether he would support such a move. Nor did he indicate the allegations on which an impeachment proceeding against the president might be based.
ICYMI
- “Jackie Johnson prosecution turns two years old amid delays caused by her lawyer” (The Current, Aug. 30, 2023) Two years ago this week, a grand jury indicted former Brunswick Judicial Circuit DA Jackie Johnson on charges of interfering with the investigation into Ahmaud Arbery’s murder. Her trial, however, has still not been scheduled to start because her defense lawyer’s time is tied up with an ongoing racketeering case in Fulton County, according to a court official with knowledge of the situation.”
- “‘Toughest Years’: Shrimp fisheries call for help” (The Brunswick News, Sept. 4, 2023) “Farm-raised, imported shrimp from other countries has flooded the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean markets, driving down the price of locally caught wild shrimp.”
- “Georgia CON law criticized at legislative hearing” (Capitol Beat, Aug. 28, 2023) “Georgia’s certificate of need (CON) law governing the health-care industry reduces access to medical care and drives up costs by stifling competition, physicians, industry executives, and political leaders from South Georgia said Monday.”
- “Georgia jobs plentiful, but working in so-called No. 1 place to do business reported to be pitiful” (Georgia Recorder, Sept. 4, 2023) “Peach State politicos on both sides of the aisle like to tout Georgia as the best state in the nation to do business. But a new report from Oxfam America says Georgia may be one of the worst states to be a worker.”
- “Georgia behavioral health officials push for more workers and beds as people languish in jail” (Georgia Recorder, Sept. 1, 2023)“Georgia will need to build five more behavioral health crisis centers and free up about 120 additional beds in the state hospital network for people in the criminal justice system – all by 2025.”
Georgia behavioral health officials push for more workers and beds as people languish in jail
Proposals from the board include $9.5 million for a new behavioral health crisis center in north Georgia, $15 million in one-time funding for crisis center staff wages, and $10 million to boost the salaries of forensic psychologists and others, as outlined in the workforce study.
Kemp nixes call by Trump supporters for special legislative session
Kemp’s comments were aimed at calls for a special legislative session targeting Willis from freshman state Sen. Colton Moore, R-Trenton, and other members of the Georgia Freedom Caucus.
Georgia craft brewers look to legislature to ease sales restrictions
Senate Bill 163, which remains alive for consideration in 2024, would repeal a provision in the 2017 law that limits craft brewers to selling no more than 288 ounces of beer per day – equivalent to one case – for off-premises consumption.
New federal water pollution rule draws mixed reaction
The administration’s new rule follow the guidelines set by the Supreme Court, which held the federal government can only regulate waters with “a continuous surface connection” to the types of navigable waters indisputably covered by the Clean Water Act.
The land is your family wealth. A railroad wants a piece of it. What do you do?
Private railroad looks to take land farmed for generations in move generally reserved for public utilities, state.
Jackie Johnson prosecution turns two years old amid delays caused by her lawyer
Two years after a former Brunswick-area district attorney was indicted for alleged meddling in the Ahmaud Arbery investigation, delays mar her case. Some point to Jackie Johnson’s own lawyer, who is tied up in another case in Atlanta.
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