Georgia high court issues a 'blow' to GOP gov and party seeking to 'punish' Fani Willis: report

Georgia Republicans suffered a loss Wednesday when a ruling from the state's high court put a law "empowered to sanction" liberal prosecutors on hold, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution's Greg Bluestein reports.

According to Bluestein, although the newly established Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission "began accepting complaints earlier this year, under Senate Bill 92 it can't take any action until the Georgia Supreme Court approves a set of rules and code of conduct."

The court refused to do so.

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"In short, we have grave doubts that we have the constitutional power to take any action on the draft standards and rules," the judges wrote. "But deciding the question of whether we actually have that power would require deciding difficult constitutional questions of first impression outside of the adversarial process."

Furthermore, the ruling stated, "Because we are under no legal directive to take action, the most prudent course for us is to decline to take action without conclusively deciding any constitutional question."

Bluestein reports, "The battle over the commission is being closely watched partly because [ex-President] Donald Trump's allies aim to use the new law," which was backed by Republican Governor Brian Kemp, "to punish Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for seeking election interference charges against the former president."

READ MORE: Georgia Republicans 'seek to reprimand' Fani Willis for investigating and indicting Trump: report

Greg Bluestein's full report is here.