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georgia supreme court
Georgia Supreme Court Rejects GOP Push for Hand Count of Votes
One advocate praised the court for refusing to allow the State Election Board "to inject chaos and confusion into our democratic system."
Oct 22, 2024
Voting rights advocates on Tuesday cheered the Georgia Supreme Court's unanimous decision to reject Republican efforts to require a hand count of votes and another rule that could delay certification of the results for the November 5 election.
After Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney last week struck down the State Election Board's (SEB) hand-count policy and ruled that local election officials must certify results regardless of their beliefs that "voter fraud" has taken place, the Republican National Committee and Georgia GOP sought an expedited appeal before Election Day.
"The high court's one-page order leaves in place a Fulton County judge's ruling last week that seven new election rules are 'illegal, unconstitutional, and void,'" The Atlanta Journal-Constitutionreported Tuesday. "The order noted the appeal can proceed on a normal schedule."
Although Republican attacks on voting rights in the state persist, advocates still celebrated what Democracy Docket called "a win for voters."
Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, said that "with this ruling, the court keeps the status quo in place, refusing to allow the SEB to inject chaos and confusion into our democratic system."
"We are excited about the record early voting numbers in Georgia and glad that now all can focus on participating in this important election without disruption," Young added.
Georgia is just one of several states where early voting is already underway and was a key focus of former Republican President Donald Trump's attempt to reverse his 2020 loss. Trump—who faces a criminal case in Fulton County over his "Big Lie" efforts during the last cycle—is now the Republican nominee running against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
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Georgia Supreme Court Rejects 'Desperate and Frivolous' Attempt by Trump to Kill 2020 Probe
One attorney said that the former president's "stupid and desperate motion gets treated like a stupid and desperate motion."
Jul 17, 2023
The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday unanimously rejected a bid by former President Donald Trump—who is seeking the GOP's 2024 presidential nomination—to effectively end Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' probe into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
The former president's legal team last week filed petitions with the Georgia Supreme Court and the Fulton County Superior Court—after Willis signaled that charges in the investigation could come in early August. Trump aimed to disqualify Willis and to quash a related special purpose grand jury report.
However, Monday's five-page order states that Trump has neither "presented in his original petition either the facts or the law necessary to mandate Willis' disqualification by this court," nor "shown that this case presents one of those extremely rare circumstances in which this court's original jurisdiction should be invoked."
The political action committee MeidasTouch on Monday called Trump's filing in the state's highest court "desperate and frivolous," and highlighted that all but one of the nine justices were appointed by Republican governors.
CNNreported that "Trump has other legal challenges related to the Fulton County criminal investigation that are still pending. He has denied wrongdoing and claims that the prosecutors are only investigating him because they want to undermine his 2024 presidential campaign."
Some pro-democracy groups argue the twice-impeached former president is disqualified from holding office again, under a section of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, because he provoked the January 6, 2021 insurrection with his "Big Lie" that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Though Trump has not yet faced any federal charges from Special Counsel Jack Smith's probe into the 2021 Capitol attack, the ex-president and his aide Walt Nauta were indicted last month in a classified documents case led by Smith. That came after the Manhattan district attorney in April charged Trump with 34 felonies stemming from alleged hush money payments.
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