Fulton County commissioners voted Wednesday to move funding for three judges from Magistrate Court to Superior Court, and to ask state legislators to allow Superior Court judicial officers — now limited to family law cases — to handle felonies, in line with a request from Chief Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville.
The move came over opposition from Chief Magistrate Judge Cassandra Kirk. Commissioners Marvin Arrington Jr. and Natalie Hall voted against the change, while Commissioner Khadijah Abdur-Rahman abstained from the vote on moving funding.
But commissioners postponed voting on a proposal to make Kirk’s job appointed instead of elected. That’s also a change state legislators would have to make.
Disputes over Magistrate Court’s function have simmered for months. Commissioners Dana Barrett and Bob Ellis sponsored Wednesday’s resolution, which commissioners split into several parts before voting.
Commissioners have noted a steady drop in the number and percentage of cases Magistrate Court closes over the last several years, despite a budget increase of $2.3 million since 2019.
Magistrate court handles civil matters such as evictions, small claims and foreclosures; warrants and first appearances in criminal cases; and assists Superior Court with simple criminal cases and preliminary hearings.
Superior Court is a general trial court handling civil and criminal matters: misdemeanors, contract disputes, divorces, land title and felonies involving jury trials.
On Wednesday, Kirk told commissioners the portrayal of Magistrate Court’s case handling was misleading, and the court is rapidly closing old cases. She would never cut off support to Superior Court, she said.
Kirk asked commissioners to at least postpone action until they got a “thorough, unbiased assessment” of Magistrate Court’s operation. She said attempts to limit her independence and change her job back to an appointed role, as it was before 2015, would be a step backward.
Arrington said Magistrate Court has begged for more staff and funding for at least five years. Other judges have staffs of five, but magistrate judges have none assigned to them, he said. Even in handling simple cases, the sheer volume means staff are needed to handle paperwork, Arrington said.
Ellis said the proposed changes were “well earned” by Kirk’s inability to work with others, which has drawn many complaints. Commissioner Bridget Thorne wondered if the drop in Magistrate Court’s case closure from previous years was “intentional.”
Glanville sent county officials a memo Dec. 12 alleging that Kirk intended to reduce the assistance Magistrate Court provides to Superior Court. That would slow down Superior Court’s work and drive up the number of people in jail awaiting trial, he said.
Kirk, in response, said she never intended to stop helping Superior Court. But she acknowledged her move had to do with the upcoming budget, which county commissioners are scheduled to approve in January. Kirk said Magistrate Court officials believed they were on course toward an agreement on allocating court resources.
Kirk has been a magistrate court judge since 2015, when the court became independent of State Court. Reelected in 2022, her current term runs to the end of 2026.
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