Category: Law

Governor Deal Announces Sweeping Initiative to Strengthen Law Enforcement

Recognizing that Georgia’s public safety officers have difficult and dangerous jobs for which they are not adequately compensated, Governor Deal announced a two part law enforcement initiative this morning, including a 20% pay raise for the state’s law enforcement officers and additional training programs designed to improve officers’ skills and effectiveness. Flanked by Lt. Governor

Sam Olens and the Transgender Injunction

A Texas court has granted a temporary injunction in a case brought by a 13-state coalition and two schools districts. At issue is a “Dear Colleague” letter from the Department of Education that purports to require schools to offer restroom facilities consistent with the self-expressed gender of the students, rather than the gender assigned to

A Long Way To Go On Civil Asset Forfeiture

Civil asset forfeiture just might be the most anodyne name ever concocted for an outrageous government practice. Maybe if we started calling “letting law enforcement steal your money and stuff” people might pay attention to it. The practice is used by law enforcement to take property from a person if they think it is connected

Senator Perdue misses mark on justice reform…again

Following the recent announcement of reduced prison sentences for 214 convicted felons by President Barack Obama, junior Senator David Perdue issued a statement condemning the action. All of the inmates affected by the clemency are serving time in federal correctional facilities and a large majority of the inmates are incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses that

New Email Reveals in Judge Weaver Controversy

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the snafu in North Georgia’s Appalachian Judicial Circuit. Under intense public pressure, Appalachian District Attorney Alison Sosebee had just dropped the fraud charges she had filed against Fannin Focus publisher Mark Thomason and his attorney Richard Stookey. The charges were related to an open-records-request Thomason and Stookey had made

State Legislators Prepare To Criminalize “Upskirting”

In an article published in the Macon Telegraph on Tuesday, it was described that as the next legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly inches closer, Speaker of the Georgia House David Ralston and other Georgia lawmakers are looking into language that would clearly criminalize the practice of taking secret, invasive pictures for the purpose of

Judge Brenda Weaver Faces Criticism Over Alleged First Amendment Violations

Don’t say that nothing exciting ever happens outside Atlanta. The Appalachian Judicial Circuit, which includes Fannin, Gilmer, and Pickens Counties, has been at the center of a First Amendment and public corruption controversy ever since Mark Thomason, the publisher of the Fannin Focus, and his attorney Russell Stookey were arrested and indicted on charges of