Judge tosses DAs’ lawsuit challenging Georgia’s prosecutor oversight commission

Editor’s note: The video above is from previous coverage.

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — A Fulton County Superior Court judge has thrown out a lawsuit brought by a bipartisan trio of Georgia district attorneys over the creation of a GOP-created commission to oversee prosecuting attorneys.

Judge Paige Reese Whitaker — who is soon moving to the Georgia Court of Appeals after losing her reelection bid — said the district attorneys, one of whom was DeKalb DA Sherry Boston, failed to show they had been harmed by the 2023 creation of the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission (PAQC).

Boston was joined in the lawsuit by Jonathan Adams, a former middle Georgia district attorney, and Jared Williams, a Democratic DA from Augusta.

“We commend Judge Whitaker’s strong decision, and we’re proud to have defended the PAQC’s efforts,” said Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr. “When an elected prosecutor fails to do their job, crime goes up and victims are denied justice. With this win, we have made clear that DAs who choose to ignore the law will not be immune from accountability.”

The commission was created by the Georgia General Assembly in 2023, and Gov. Brian Kemp signed the bill into law. Carr’s office continued to defend the law after Boston and the other two DAs filed their lawsuit.

Kemp had called for the commission in an effort to combat what he and GOP leaders called “rogue” DAs who refused to uphold the law.

Boston is also the lead plaintiff in another lawsuit, this one fighting a 2026 law that makes constitutional offices in five metro Atlanta counties nonpartisan.

It challenges HB 369, which makes races for constitutional offices — including DA, tax commissioner and solicitor general — nonpartisan. Voters would no longer see a “D” or an “R” next to candidates’ names to denote party affiliation.

But it only does so in Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb and Clayton counties — the five largest in the state and all Democratic-leaning in elections.

“This statute is clearly unconstitutional, and we believe it will be struck down,” said Boston when the lawsuit was announced. “My goal is, is that if we’re going to pass laws, we make it for 159 (counties), not just these five.”

Boston, who has said she is the longest-serving Democratic district attorney among the five counties, is being represented in the lawsuit by the Atlanta litigation firm Caplan Cobb.

Boston is supported in the lawsuit by Fulton County DA Fani Willis, Tasha Mosley of Clayton County, Cobb County’s Sonya Allen and Gwinnett County DA Patsy Austin-Gatson.

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