Cobb County attorneys are trying to intervene in the lawsuit over an electoral map that a Superior Court judge has ruled unconstitutional — an apparent last-ditch effort to preserve a map the county drew itself and that keeps Democratic Commissioner Jerica Richardson in her seat.
This week, the county’s attorneys filed legal briefs asking Cobb Superior Court Judge Kellie Hill to allow them to enter the case between Alicia Adams and the Cobb County Board of Elections — and to reconsider her judgments that the map is unconstitutional, and that the May primary elections for Districts 2 and 4 commission seats need to be redone.
Last month, the judge ruled that the county map is unconstitutional because it was passed by the county commission, not by the state Legislature, which conducts nearly all of the redistricting in Georgia. County officials argue they are allowed to draw their own districts by the home rule provision in the state constitution — a novel legal claim that many consider dubious, and that Judge Hill found unconvincing.
But the lawsuit was filed against the county’s Board of Elections, which has decided to not appeal the Hill’s ruling. That has led the county commission to request intervention.
In the filings, county attorneys admit that the state-passed map, which drew Richardson out of her district mid-term, should be the legal map of the county — a reversal from the position the county has argued all along. County attorneys have argued that Richardson’s seat would be vacated immediately when the state-passed map goes into effect because she does not live in the district.
The county has been heavily criticized and accused by state officials, legal experts and constituents of playing politics over the issue. Notably, the two Republican Commissioners JoAnn Birrell and Keli Gambrill oppose the county’s request to intervene, the filing says.
The county is aiming to enter the lawsuit that Adams, a potential candidate for District 2, brought earlier this year after she was disqualified from running for office under the county-passed map. She lives in the district under the state-passed map.
The judge ruled in that case that the county’s map is unconstitutional, threw out results from this year’s primary and runoff elections, and ordered the county to hold new elections for the two affected commission seats using the state-passed map. Throwing out the primary election returns also means the November general election will be postponed.
The county is operating as if the county-passed map is still in place, and county attorneys have not notified Richardson to vacate her seat, according to county spokesman Ross Cavitt.
Jason Shepherd — a Kennesaw State University political science professor, attorney and the former Cobb GOP chair — said because the county map was deemed unconstitutional, it “legally ceases to exist.” He called the county’s intervention request “an exercise in futility.”
“It seems so abundantly clear what the final outcome of this is going to be,” Shepherd said. “How much time do you want to waste fighting it?”
The county attorneys argue that the judge cannot legally make the ruling she made under the type of cases brought forward, or address whether the map is constitutional within this case. They also say the judge cannot retroactively throw out the May primary election.
The order to redo the May primary and postpone the general election for Districts 2 and 4 will “impose significant burden on the county,” is “contrary to the public interest,” and is “very costly for the county and burdensome for its residents,” the filing says.
Several attorneys cast doubt on whether the county’s motion to intervene will succeed. The judge has already ruled on the case, and the county’s justification to overturn her ruling would now have to meet a higher legal burden, they said.
Board of Elections attorney Daniel White called the county’s move “untimely and inappropriate.”
“If the county thought it had a right to intervene, the time to make that motion was back in April,” White said.
Chuck Boring, Adams’ attorney, said county attorneys “sat on their hands for months while we litigated this case” and called the decision to intervene “absurd and offensive.”
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
“The taxpayers of Cobb County should be furious at the county’s decision to drive up litigation costs for both the county and our client, whom the county disenfranchised,” Boring said. “For them to wait until after the judgment of the court to attempt to intervene is inexcusable and improper.”
The county issued a statement that says the motions were filed “to ensure proper legal procedures were followed and to protect the interests of Cobb County taxpayers.”
Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, a Democrat, said in a statement she is “hopeful the judge in this matter can provide clarity in responding to our county attorney’s inquiries on behalf of our board.” The three Democrats on the commission ultimately had to approve the request for intervention.
Richardson declined to comment.
Gambrill, one of the Republican commissioners, said the attorneys need to notify Richardson that she is no longer qualified, and accused the attorneys of “pretending that the law doesn’t exist.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
“I’m very disappointed that our legal department is stepping away from the law and giving answers to help a political agenda,” Gambrill said. “While it was never about removing (Richardson) from office, the lying, the deception and the continued disregard for law — I now think there do need to be consequences.”
About the Author
