Hunstein to Replace Sears on Top Court

Presiding Justice Carol W. Hunstein has been unanimously elected as the new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia. She will assume the position July 1, 2009, succeeding Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, who is stepping down from the Court June 30.

The Court has also unanimously elected Justice George H. Carley to become the new Presiding Justice.

Former Gov. Zell Miller – who appointed both Justices to the Supreme Court – will swear them into their new positions in a ceremony in the state Supreme Court courtroom on July 1, 2009.

The state's Chief Justice presides over Georgia's judicial branch, just as the governor heads the executive branch of government, and House and Senate leaders lead the legislative branch. The Presiding Justice serves in her absence. The Chief Justice is the main spokesperson for the Court, as well as for the entire judiciary. She presides over oral arguments and runs the meetings in which the Court makes its decisions, although she has only one vote as does each of the Justices.

The Chief Justice, who is eligible to serve two two-year terms, also chairs the Georgia Judicial Council, which governs all levels of the state's courts.

Justice Hunstein was a DeKalb County Superior Court Judge when Gov. Miller tapped her in 1992 to become the second woman in history to serve on Georgia's Supreme Court. She was the first woman to serve as President of the Council of Superior Court Judges. In 1989, then Chief Justice Thomas Marshall appointed her to chair the Georgia Commission on Gender Bias in the Judicial System. Gov. Miller and later Gov. Roy Barnes appointed her three times to chair the state's commission on child support guidelines in 1993, 1998 and 2001. She has served on the advisory board of several organizations, including the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, and she currently chairs the Georgia Commission on Access and Fairness.

Justice Hunstein has received many honors, including an honorary LL.D. from Stetson University College of Law where she received her juris doctor in 1976. She has three grown children and a grandson.

Justice Carley served in the Georgia House of Representatives and spent 14 years on the Georgia Court of Appeals, including as Chief Judge, before Gov. Miller appointed him to the state's high court in 1993. He received his LL.B. degree from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1962 and practiced law in Decatur where he was a partner in the firm of McCurdy & Candler. He also served as the attorney for the Housing Authority of the City of Decatur and as a Special Assistant Attorney General handling eminent domain cases for the state Department of Transportation. Since 1988, Justice Carley has been actively involved with the Georgia and National High School Mock Trial Competitions.

Source: GA Supreme Court Communications

Georgia top court upholds appeals court rape case ruling

Georgia’s Supreme Court today ruled the defendant in a rape case can only receive a sentence of life-in-prison without parole if the state first seeks the death penalty in the case.

Rodolfo Lopez Velazquez pleaded guilty in 2005 to the rape of a seven-year-old girl. A judge in south Georgia’s Grady County sentenced the man to life-in-prison without parole, which Velazquez appealed.

Georgia’s Court of Appeals reversed the trial judge’s decision, saying the state had to first declare it was seeking the death penalty. But prosecutors cited a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that outlawed the death penalty for the rape of an adult woman when the victim survived.

Georgia’s Supreme Court today voted 4-3 to uphold the state’s Appeals court ruling. Georgia’s high court said neither it nor the U.S. high court has addressed whether the death penalty is "unconstitutionally disproportionate for the crime of raping a child".

Marina dispute could affect coastal growth

Michael DeMell, environmental consultant to Cumberland Harbour development, stands on a newly constructed dock that comes off a deep water lot in St. Marys, Ga. The marina and housing development takes up part of a peninsula frequented by northern right whales. (Stephen Morton / AP file)

A legal fight over whether the law protecting Georgia marshlands can extend to residential developments on dry land is headed to the state Supreme Court, which could set a precedent imposing tougher standards on construction near salt marshes along Georgia's 100-mile coast.

The court will hear arguments Monday in a dispute between environmentalists and the developer of Cumberland Harbour, a 1,014-acre gated subdivision built on a peninsula surrounded by marsh in Camden County near the Georgia-Florida border.

The developer, the Land Resource Companies, was granted a state permit in 2005 to build two marinas and three community docks at Cumberland Harbour. They would make up the largest marina complex in Georgia with more than 17,500 linear feet of floating docks.

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Opponents have tied up the project in court ever since, arguing state regulators granted the marina permit without considering potential harm to the marsh from polluting stormwater runoff from the entire development - including homes built on the peninsula's uplands.

It will be the first time the state Supreme Court has considered whether development on land, rather than in the marsh itself, is covered by safeguards in the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act. The regulatory committee that issues permits says it lacks that authority under the law.

"It's a big deal because there's been a wholesale failure of government to protect the marsh other than to keep it from being filled in," said Gordon Rogers, the Satilla riverkeeper and one of the plaintiffs in the case. "The act is broader than how they're using it."

The 1970 state law was passed to protect Georgia's 378,000 acres of marshland, about a third of the total on the East Coast, from destruction. Salt marshes serve as wildlife habitat, help shield coastlines against flooding and erosion, and feed marine animals miles offshore with their decaying grasses.

The law requires a regulatory permit for any development "on or over marshlands." Attorneys for Land Resource, as well as Georgia's attorney general, say the only upland construction the law has been applied to are portions of marinas such as fuel tanks, storage buildings and parking lots.

"We are confident in the correctness of our legal argument that (the law) was not intended to and does not regulate the uplands residential development at Cumberland Harbour," said Patricia Barmeyer, an attorney for the developer.

Part of the area to be developed. (Courtesy Livesouth.com)

One of the law's authors, former state Rep. Reid W. Harris of St. Simons Island, also insists it would be a stretch to apply the marshlands act to homes on dry land. Harris, a retired lawyer, filed a brief with the Supreme Court saying the law wouldn't have passed had legislators feared it would restrict private property rights.

Stephen O'Day, an attorney working on the case with the Southern Environmental Law Center, argues the marinas are an integral piece of the overall Cumberland Harbour subdivision.

O'Day points to ponds on the property designed to collect stormwater runoff from all parts of the development - including the marinas. The ponds then filter out pollutants before piping the water back onto land. Some of that stormwater, O'Day says, will flow into the marsh. But how much comes from the marinas?

"You can't separate out the stormwater discharge from the marina and other stormwater discharge from the project," O'Day said. "It's all one stormwater system."

He also notes the Marshlands Protection Act gives state regulators power over any activity that would drain, fill in "or otherwise alter" Georgia marshlands. Because stormwater runoff can upset the delicate salinity balance of salt marshes, O'Day says, it should be considered an alteration.

Other Georgia developers and coastal landowners are watching the case.

The Sea Island Company, the Georgia-based owner and developer of coastal luxury resorts, says applying the marshlands act to upland development would be "grossly onerous and unfair" to property owners.

"The impact of this would be staggering," a Sea Island attorney wrote in a brief filed with the Supreme Court, saying the state would become "regulators of land-disturbing activities on hundreds of thousands if not millions of acres in Georgia's coastal region."

The Cumberland Harbour marina proposals stirred controversy not just because of their size, but also because of their location.

The marinas would launch hundreds of pleasure boats in waters within two miles of federally protected Cumberland Island. Endangered right whales migrate to those waters every winter to birth their calves. Researchers believe only 300 to 350 of the rare whales still exist, and collisions with ships and boats is their No. 1 killer.

An administrative law judge in 2006 sent the Cumberland Harbour marina permit back to state regulators, saying they hadn't properly assessed the threat to right whales and other protected species such as manatees and sea turtles. The judge also ruled regulators had to consider the impact of the "entire project" on the marsh, including upland homes.

Last year, the Georgia Court of Appeals unanimously reversed the lower court on the residential construction issue, saying that interpretation was too broad. One of the judges urged legislators to expand the scope of the law.

The Supreme Court's ruling won't be the final word on whether Cumberland Harbour can build its marinas. Regardless of the outcome, regulators will still have to settle issues related to protected species from the 2006 judicial ruling.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of statewide environmental issues.

(The Associated Press)

Gag order postponed in Nichols trial

A Fulton County Superior Court judge today refused to grant a request for a gag order in the case of Brian Nichols. Nichols faces the death penalty, following a 2005 shooting spree that left several people dead.

State prosecutors asked for a gag order last week. Lawyers for several news organizations argued against it at a hearing. The gag order request follows reports of press interviews by Nichols attorneys about the increasing cost of the trial.

Earlier this summer, the managing director of the state’s public defender standards council told a reporter that the office was in dire straits because of the costly trial. Prosecutors used that comment to ask for the gag order.

In court, Judge Hilton Fuller says he believes the public had a right to be informed of the court’s proceedings, but did not rule on the gag order. He said he will do so at a later date. That in turn has once again postponed the trial. Jury selection was to start next week but has been delayed.

Following today’s hearing, Judge Fuller asked Nichols if he was “concerned with his current level of representation.” Nichols replied, “Not at the moment Your Honor.”

In other news, the state’s highest court has sided with Fulton County over who will pay part of the tab in the Nichols trial.

In a unanimous ruling the Georgia Supreme Court said Fulton County is not required to foot the bill for a portion of Brian Nichols’ defense. State law requires counties to pay for ordinary trial costs, like office space and equipment. But, the state’s highest court said extraordinary costs like PowerPoint presentations or transcribing jail house telephone interviews is not the type of cost normally associated with superior court proceedings.

In 2005, the state established the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council for indigent defendants. However, in late August, the head of the Council, resigned citing inadequate funding in death penalty cases.

The price tag so far in the Nichols case has topped 1 million dollars. And, some experts predict the cost of trying to keep Nichols off death row could exceed two and a half million dollars. No word yet on whether or not Fulton County will appeal the Supreme Court’s decision.

U.S. High Court Set to Decide on Davis Death Case

(Photo Credit: Valarie Edwards)

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to consider whether it will hear the case of Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis. Davis was convicted of the 1989 murder of off-duty Savannah police officer Mark McPhail.

What Davis' lawyers are waiting to learn is whether the U-S Supreme Court will hear arguments on his request for a writ of habeas corpus. The phrase is Latin for "present the body." It's a lawsuit against a prison warden demanding that he prove a prisoner is not being held in violation of his constitutional rights. If the court will hear the habeas arguments, Davis cannot be executed pending the outcome of the hearing.

Davis' execution has been delayed three times over concerns that another man is the real killer. Seven of the nine witnesses who testified in the original case have recanted their testimony. Some say they were threatened by local police. However, earlier this year the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the way for Davis' execution, saying it was "unpersuaded" by the affidavits.

The U.S. Supreme Court could decide whether it will hear the case as early as this week or carry it into the next term which begins in October. If the court refuses to hear the habeas arguments, the ruling of 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will stand.

Budget Cuts Could Mean Lawsuit for Perdue

The state's courts could become the latest victims of the down economy. Governor Sonny Perdue is slashing state spending by 25% this month, because tax revenues are down. This latest round of budget cuts follows those ordered earlier this year by the Governor that all state agencies slash the bottom line up to ten percent. In his most recent call for departments to dig even deeper, the Governor included the state's courts.

However, Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears questions whether the Governor has that budget authority over the judicial branch.

"There is this question of power. The issue is whether or not the executive branch and the executive can change our budget. The judicial branch of government is not a state agency. We are a third branch. And that makes it a constitutional issue."

Later this week, the 202-member Council of Superior Court Judges will decide if it will ask the Chief Judge to sue Governor Perdue over the proposed cuts. It's a step the state's top judge hopes to avoid.

"This doesn't have to be hot headed. It doesn't have to be nasty. It's just a question that we need answered."

In the meantime, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Melvin K. Westmoreland fears if the court's are ordered to furlough employees, it would leave the state open to lawsuits from defendants, claiming violation of constitutional rights.

"It's a significant concern. We will not be able to keep the court's open and if we can't try that case because we don't have a district attorney or a public defender in front of us, than that defendant will be released."

The Governor wrote the Chief Justice, saying that after consulting with the fiscal officer of the state attorney general's office, he believes he has the power to withhold money from any state agency, including the two other branches of state government.

Bert Brantley is the Governor's spokesperson.

"There is a constitutional responsibility to balance the budget. And, then there's a statutory authority that the governor has to withhold spending from agencies in tines of sharp revenue decline. That statutory authority says that the withholding has to be equal."

Georgia and its courts, just like states and courts around the nations are all facing tough economic decisions. Including the nation's highest court. Here's US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas testifying before a joint US House Senate subcommittee on finance.

"We recognize that in these difficult times, all budgets are to be looked at in a very disciplined way and we have done that. In the years that I have appeared before you, we have always requested only what is necessary for the court's operations. And, it is no different this year."

Although the US government can roll over its budget deficit from one fiscal year to the next, Georgia is constitutionally obligated to produce a balanced budget each fiscal year.

Genarlow Wilson freed; punishment 'cruel and unsual'

Two years after a Georgia court sentenced Genarlow Wilson to ten years in prison, the state Supreme Court has overturned his conviction. Wilson was 17 years old in 2003, when he engaged in consensual oral sex with another teen.

A Douglas County Court sentenced Wilson to 10 years in prison for aggravated child molestation.

A Monroe County judge later overturned the sentence. But that ruling was appealed by Attorney General Thurbert Baker. Baker said the judge overstepped his authority when he granted Wilson's motion.

In ordering his immediate release from prison, the Georgia Supreme Court called his ten year sentence, cruel and unusual punishment. BJ Wilson is Genarlow Wilson's defense attorney. Her argument before the Court in July, asked for a constitutional ruling on what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. "We've been waiting and praying every day. We've always looked to the court to fix this and the Georgia Supreme Court has and it's wonderful."

Wilson could have gotten out of jail months ago had he accepted a deal from prosecutors. But, the deal included lifetime registry as a convicted sex offender. Since his conviction, the Georgia legislature passed a so-called Romeo and Juliet law, making consensual sex between teenagers a misdemeanor instead of a felony.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears says changes in the law "represent a seismic shift in the legislature's view of the gravity of oral sex between two willing teenage participants." Sears says the severe punishment makes "no measurable contribution to acceptable goals of punishment" and that Wilson's crime did not rise to the "level of adults who prey on children."

At a press conference early Friday, Attorney General Thurbert Baker issued a statement saying he will not appeal Wilson's release.

Gun lawsuit ordered back to state court

The federal appeals court in Atlanta has ordered a lawsuit claiming New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg libeled a Georgia sporting goods store by calling it one of several "rogue gun dealers" to be returned to the state court where it originated. Friday's decision by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was the latest development in a two-year legal battle that began when Bloomberg sued 15 firearms brokers in five states, including Georgia. The suit said they were selling weapons that ended up in the hands of New York criminals. Former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, representing Adventure Outdoor Sports in Smyrna, Ga., argued before the appeals court in September that the suit should be returned to state Superior Court. Bloomberg's lawyers wanted the suit to be dismissed or remain in federal court, because it applies to whether the gun stores violated federal laws.

(Associated Press)

Nine Candidates for Top Court

A state judicial nominating commission has submitted a list of nine candidates for an open seat on the Georgia Supreme Court. Gov. Sonny Perdue will appoint the replacement to former Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, who stepped down on Tuesday. He is not required to pick a name from the list, but said he would meet with each of the candidates. Among the candidates are U.S. Attorney David Nahmias, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Craig Schwall and Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary Staley. Also on the list is Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge William M. Ray II, Alcovy Circuit Superior Court Judge Samuel D. Ozburn, Henry County State Court Judge Benjamin W. Studdard, Macon attorney Stephen Louis A. Dillard and Atlanta attorneys James P. Kelly III and Rocco E. Testani.

(Associated Press)

State Supreme Court overturns two malpractice suits

In a pair of decisions, Georgia’s Supreme Court overturned two medical malpractice lawsuits.

The Court ruled a Glynn County man cannot sue doctors who mistakenly infected him with HIV.

The patient was two moths old when doctors when doctors at the Medical College of Georgia Hospital performed open-heart surgery, using contaminated blood.

The patient suffered a decade of health problems attributed to his heart condition. He then sued in 2001 after discovering he was HIV-positive.

Attorneys for the defense argued the time to file a lawsuit had passed.

In its ruling, the Court said the open-heart surgery did not cause the patient to develop AIDS, but that a lack of treatment led to the illness.

In another ruling today, the Court says a judge cannot award money in a wrongful death case if the jury chooses to award nothing.

The family of a baby, who died at 15 months, says doctors at Columbus Healthcare System failed to diagnose a rare blood condition.

However, at trail, expert testimony showed the baby died due to massive head injuries.

A jury awarded $100,000 for the child’s pain and suffering, but no damages for the infant’s wrongful death.

Later, the judge added $1 million, saying it was not right to acknowledge malpractice, but award nothing for a wrongful death.

The Supreme Court overturned the judge’s $1 million award and has sent the case back for re-trial.

GA high court rules school tax use unconstitutional

The Georgia Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that cities can no longer fund local construction projects using school tax dollars. The case pitted the city of Atlanta against a local attorney who opposed the use of school tax dollars to build a 22 mile retail and recreational trail. More than $850 million in school property taxes were projected to be spent on the project over the next quarter century. The state Supreme Court said the use of school funds for non-educational purposes violates the state constitution. Georgia’s constitution requires each school system to certify that each year’s revenue will be used only for the "support and maintenance of education." The Court has made similar rulings in previous cases. Including one case where, the court turned down a request to use school revenue to pay for student lunches. And, in another, the court said a school district could not repair a road adjacent to school property because it would benefit the entire community, not just the students. The roads, it said were the county’s responsibility. Statewide more than two dozen tax allocation districts similar to the Atlanta project already are in place. They work by redirecting future increases in property tax values to help pay for projects within the district. In this case, the funds would have helped pay for everything from transit lines to workforce housing.

Hunstein Sworn in As New Supreme Court Chief Justice

Justices Carol Hunstein and George Carley await investiture
as Chief Justice and Presiding Justice, respectively. (Photo: V Edwards)

Investiture of Chief Justice Carol Hunstein by
former Governor Zell Miller. (Photo: V Edwards)

Former DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Carol Hunstein was sworn in today as Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. Former Governor Zell Miller presided over the investiture.

Hunstein was chosen by Miller in 1992 to become the second woman to serve on Georgia's Supreme Court. She succeeds outgoing Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, who retired in June.

As the state's revenues continue to decline, and following a recent move by Governor Sonny Perdue to slash the judiciary's budget, the new chief justice says she will make funding the state's courts one of her top priorities.

"I plan to sit down with the Governor and with other leaders very, very soon and explain the constitutional duty of our court system. The citizens of this state deserve to have access to their courts. I am very, very confident that we will be able to work amiably together to resolve the problems."

The Chief Justice presides over Georgia's judicial branch, just as the governor heads the executive branch of government. The Presiding Justice serves in her absence.

And, associate justice George Carley was also sworn in today to succeed Hunstein as presiding judge. Former Governor Miller appointed Carley to the state’s highest court in 1993.

State Judges To Meet on Budget Cuts

A group of state court judges has called an emergency meeting for Friday following news of a proposed budget cut.

The Judicial Council of Georgia – headed by Supreme Court Justice Leah Ward Sears -- called the meeting after Governor Perdue announced an across the board twenty five percent budget reduction for this month only.

The group will decide if it should sue the Governor, questioning if he has authority to cut funding to another branch of government.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Melvin K. Westmoreland says the Governor made his decision without speaking first to the state’s judges.

"It was just unilateral. The Governor informed OPB that 25 percent needed to be cut across the board. There was no determination made that public safety is something that is more important to the citizens of Georgia than tourism."

Westmoreland added that any loss of money could mean furloughs for the state's public defenders and staff.

"That one million dollars that would come to the Council of Superior Court Judges may not be a lot in respect to the budget crisis. But it certainly means a great deal to the judges and their staff. That million is the million that pays the salaries of our support staff and without those support staff, we will not be able to conduct court."

Georgia is running out of money as the state tries to balance its books for the fiscal year which ends June 30^th.

If the Judicial Council of Georgia moves forward in a lawsuit against Perdue, the case automatically goes to the Georgia Supreme Court, lead by Chief Justice Sears, who says she will excuse herself.

Plea to spare Alderman's life rejected

The federal appeals court in Atlanta rejected an appeal of death row inmate Jack Alderman. condemned to die Sept. 16 for the 1974 slaying of his wife in Chatham County.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal judge's denial of Alderman's challenge to Georgia's lethal injection method.
The district court judge had dismissed Alderman's appeal, saying he waited too long to raise the claim after the Legislature adopted lethal injection in October 2001.
The Georgia Supreme Court issued a stay of execution in October while the U.S. Supreme Court considered the issue of lethal injection. The nation's high court ruled earlier this year that it does not violate the Constitution.
Georgia has executed two men since then.

Judge's ruling halts planned power station (Updated)

In a landmark ruling with national implications, The Fulton County Superior Court today reversed a previous administrative court decision on an Environmental Protection Division (EPD) permit allowing the construction of a coal-fired power plant in southwest Georgia.

"We are in a moment of elation," said Justine Thompson a lawyer for Greenlaw, who represent a coalition of local residents and environmental groups that are fighting the plant's construction.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore reversed a previous decision by Atlanta Administrative Law Judge Judge Stephanie Howells, giving the go-ahead for the project.

Wyatt said in her ruling regarding the plant's projected carbon dioxide emissions:

"Faced with the ruling in Massachusetts that CO2 is an “air pollutant” under the Act, Respondents are forced to argue that CO2 is still not a “pollutant subject to regulation under the Act.” Respondents’ position is untenable. Putting aside the argument that any substance that falls within the statutory definition of “air pollutant may be “subject to” regulation under the Act, there is no question that CO2 is “subject to regulation under the Act."

Howells, in an 108-page decision reached on January 11th, had ruled affirming the EPD decision to issue an air quality permit:

"...the weight of the evidence demonstrates that limits imposed by EPD are reasonable and supported by law.”

The Houston-based Dynegy Company wants to build the 1200-megawatt Longleaf power plant on the Chattahoochee River in Early County.

The opponents last year filed an appeal to stop the construction. The say the plant would emit unchecked levels of carbon dioxide, and unacceptable amounts of other pollutants.

Proponents say the 1.2-billion dollar project will provide hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue for the poor rural area.

The plant would be the first such facility to be built in Georgia in the last 20-years.

Environmentalists said the decision marks the first time that a judge has applied a U.S. Supreme Court finding that carbon dioxide is a pollutant to emissions from an industrial source.

The court's April 2007 decision said the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which are blamed for global warming.

"We will be taking this decision and making the same arguments to push for an end to conventional coal," said Bruce Nilles, who oversees the Sierra Club's National Coal Campaign.

The plant's developers, LS Power and Dynegy Inc., said they planned to appeal.

"We are surprised with Judge Moore's ruling against us in every respect," said Mike Vogt, a spokesman for the energy plant. He also downplayed the ruling's impact on other pending lawsuits.

"I don't know what type of legal precedent a superior court judge in one state has over judges in other states," he said.

At a June 3 hearing, lawyers representing state regulators and plant developers said there was no federal standard yet to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and warned that a ruling to regulate the gas would "short-circuit" legislators' work to develop new rules.

The plant is expected to create more than 100 full-time jobs and give millions of dollars in tax revenues to Early County, where almost a quarter of the 12,000 residents live in poverty. It would power more than a half-million homes through utilities in Georgia, Alabama and Florida.

Each year it would emit as much as 9 million tons of carbon dioxide, worrying critics who say it could cause health problems in a county that already suffers above-average air pollution.

The decision will force state regulators to reconsider coal-fired power plants and could push state regulators toward cleaner and more efficient energy, said Patti Durand, director of the Sierra Club's Georgia chapter.

"It's a scandal that energy companies are still trying to build coal plants even though they cause global warming," she said. "I can't be more thrilled. It's a huge ruling. This is a new day in the United States, and I'm thrilled."

Click here for more GPB News coverage about the Longleaf power station.

(With The Associated Press)

Valdosta court bars Muslim woman wearing headscarf

Officials in Valdosta who last week refused to admit a Muslim woman to a local court, say there were justified because the woman refused to remove her headscarf. Aniisa Karim says she went to court to contest an outstanding parking ticket. Sheriff's deputies, however, refused to admit Karim to court, citing homeland security concerns and because they say wearing the traditional headscarf would be disrespectful to the judge. A spokesperson for the city of Valdosta said court officers acted properly but did offer apologies if Karim was offended. Since Karim's story was made public, anti-Muslim postings to an Internet blog suggest she go home. Karim however, is African American and says she been wearing her headscarf since she was a child. Valdosta City officials say they'll review their court admittance policy this coming week.

Justice condemns death penalty process

A U.S. Supreme Court justice has criticized the way Georgia's top court reviews death penalty cases. The opinion by Justice John Paul Stevens' criticizes the Georgia Supreme Court's practice of reviewing each case to determine if the punishment is proportional. The process aims to ensure that a capital punishment sentence isn't disproportionate to penalties in similar cases.

Stevens said he worries about a special risk of arbitrariness in cases that involve black defendants and white victims. Stevens' opinion is part of a ruling Monday that denied a review of the death penalty against Artemus Rick Walker, a black man who was sentenced to death for a 1999 murder of a white banker.

Justice Clarence Thomas noted that Georgia's proportionality review is not required by federal law or by Supreme Court precedent. And Thomas says there is nothing constitutionally defective about the Georgia Supreme Court's determination. The Georgia Supreme Court declined comment on the rulings.

(Associated Press)

High Court Declines Georgia Motion Water Wars Case

Lake Allatoona: a bridge over troubled, and receding, waters (Dave Bender/file)

The U.S. Supreme Court will let stand a lower court ruling that threatens Georgia's long-term water plans for the Atlanta region.

The court's decision Monday raises fundamental questions about Georgia's rights to Lake Lanier, a massive federal reservoir outside Atlanta. It could also play a key role in deciding the
long-running water wars among Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

The case involves a 2003 water-sharing agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers that would have allowed Georgia to take far more water from Lanier for drinking water.

Florida and Alabama contested the pact. A lower court agreed, saying the Corps didn't have authority to use the lake for that reason.

Georgia had appealed to the Supreme Court for another review.

(AP)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of water issues and here for previous reports about the drought.

Supreme Court puts Troy Davis appeal on hold

The U.S. Supreme Court has recessed for the summer without taking action on Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis' latest appeal, likely delaying any action on the convicted cop killer's case until the fall.

Davis, of Savannah, was convicted in 1991 for the slaying of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail. Supporters say he deserves a new trial after several key trial witnesses recanted their testimony.

Davis' lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court after a lower federal court denied his request for a new trial in April. The Supreme Court won't reconvene until September.

Davis' case has become a rallying point for death penalty opponents worldwide. A petition signed by 60,000 supporters was turned into Chatham County's District Attorney's office today. His supporters also include former President Jimmy Carter, Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu and Pope Benedict XVI.

(Associated Press)

Nichols judge could face high court

Prosecutors in the Brian Nichols courthouse shooting want the state Supreme Court to review the judge's refusal to step down from the case. The Fulton County district attorney's office accuses Superior Court Judge Hilton Fuller of being an advocate for the defense. In court papers filed today, the D-A's office asked Fuller to certify its disqualification request for immediate review by the high court. Fuller has indefinitely postponed Nichols' murder trial because of the lack of enough defense funding for the indigent Nichols.