Ousted Georgia judge mum on whether he asked Donald Trump for a job

Christian Coomer isn’t saying whether he penned a letter to Trump asking to be named as Atlanta’s top federal prosecutor. But the dispatch, first reported by Bill Simon at Political Vine, has Atlanta’s legal community buzzing.

Coomer, a former Republican legislator, was kicked off Georgia’s Court of Appeals in 2023 and later suspended from practicing law until August. Authorities say he misused campaign funds and took advantage of an older client.

In the purported letter, addressed last month to Trump, Coomer stresses his loyalty to the president and asks to be named U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. It includes Coomer’s resume.

“I want to put that tenacity and skill to work for America once again by pursuing justice for those who have been unlawfully targeted by leftist activists parading as prosecutors and judicial officers,” the letter reads. “In short, I want to prosecute the persecutors.”

As for Trump’s enemies, the letter adds he wants to “rip off their masks of fake justice to reveal the ugliness that lies beneath.”

Reached by phone over the weekend, Coomer told our AJC colleague Shaddi Abusaid that he would neither confirm nor deny writing the appeal to the president.

“I don’t have anything to say about any stuff that’s been posted online. I’m past that,” Coomer said Saturday, referring the AJC to his attorney Mark Lefkow, who also declined to confirm or deny whether his client wrote the dispatch.

***

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

GOOD MORNING! Here are three things to know for today:

***

Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC

Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC

DEMOCRAT DRAMA. Georgia Democratic Party activists have finished a draft of new bylaws that would require the party to hire a paid, full-time chair. But it’s unclear when party leaders will vote on the proposal.

U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, an Atlanta Democrat who has chaired the party since 2019, is under pressure from U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and other heavyweights to step aside in favor of someone who could take the job on full-time during a challenging election cycle.

Party officials say Williams must schedule a committee vote on the proposal with at least 30 days notice. As of Tuesday, she had yet to do so.

***

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

CUSTODY RIGHTS. Georgia law allows people who help raise children — but aren’t related to them by blood — to seek custody rights in some circumstances. The state Supreme Court on Tuesday had serious questions about the law and “the fundamental right of parents.”

But that misses the point, according to the state lawmaker who wrote the law.

State Rep. Chuck Efstration, R-Mulberry, said the intent was to “focus on the rights of a child to grow up in the best environment.”

“Imagine a dad abandons his wife upon the birth of a child. The mother remarried and a stepfather raises the child as his own,” he said. “If the mother unexpectedly dies, I think a judge should be able to consider the stepfather continuing to serve as the child’s caregiver.”

The case before the court concerned a woman, Abby Boone, who helped raise a young girl from birth with her partner, Michelle Dias. Dias was the girl’s legal guardian, while Boone was not. Dias cut off contact with Boone a few years after the couple broke up.

The court sidestepped the question of whether the law was constitutional, ruling in favor of Dias because Boone’s relationship with the child happened before the law took effect in 2019.

Still, the ruling puts the future of the law in doubt. That concerns Efstration, who said he could push for changes to the law.

***

POWER PLAY. As Georgia emerges as a growing hotbed for data center development, the industry is taking new steps to promote the economic impact of the server-packed warehouses that power the infrastructure of the digital age.

Advocates are circulating a recent PwC study commissioned by the Data Center Coalition that shows the industry employed more than 30,000 Georgians in 2023 — up 7% from the year before.

It estimated the industry directly and indirectly generated roughly $3.5 billion in state and local tax revenues in 2022-2023 and the overall economic impact topped $10 billion.

The centers are under increasing scrutiny from lawmakers who worry the rapidly growing industry will overburden power plants.

State regulators recently approved rule changes to give Georgia Power flexibility to charge data centers more for service than other customers.

And lawmakers are considering legislation that would require utilities to charge data centers for costs “substantially related to” providing their electric service.

***

Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

PURSE STRINGS. Some of the most confusing and chaotic moments in the first month of President Donald Trump’s second term have involved federal spending — and Georgia is right in the middle of it.

Our AJC colleague Ariel Hart has reported about how Trump’s decision to freeze grants and slash spending has threatened biomedical research at the state’s major universities. And Alia Pharr wrote about how the spending freeze is impacting energy projects sponsored by multiple nonprofit groups as well as cities and counties.

Trump is doing these things by impounding — or not spending — money that Congress has directed the government to spend. Congress passed a law in 1974 restricting a president’s impoundment powers, a law that Trump and his advisers have said is unconstitutional.

Now U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens, has introduced a bill that would repeal that law.

“The presidential power to impound funds is key to restoring fiscal sanity to our nation’s capital,” said Clyde, who is co-sponsoring the bill with Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah. “Removing the unconstitutional roadblock that the (law) presents will ensure President Trump has every tool at his disposal to decline wasteful spending."

But it might not be that simple. Some legal scholars argue the U.S. Constitution doesn’t allow the president to ignore Congress' spending decisions. They have pointed to a federal appellate court ruling in 2013 that suggested “even the president does not have unilateral authority to refuse to spend funds.”

The author of that opinion? Judge Brett Kavanaugh, whom Trump would later nominate for the U.S. Supreme Court.

***

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

PAGING GOV. KEMP. Asked over the weekend about layoffs at the CDC in Atlanta, Gov. Brian Kemp said “government can stand a little rightsizing.”

In response, state Rep. Saira Draper, D-Atlanta, will hold a news conference Friday on what she says is the indifference of GOP leaders to mass layoffs now affecting federal workers in Georgia.

“If there had been a manufacturing plant that opened up in Georgia, that brought 1,300 high-paying, stable jobs, you better bet that Governor Kemp would have press releases about this,” Draper told the Politically Georgia podcast Tuesday.

Draper said GOP leaders, including Kemp, are missing in action.

“He basically shrugged and said, ‘It happens,’ right?” she said. “So the callousness and disregard with which he has approached this so far is stunning because these are real Georgians and real lives.”

***

Credit: Adam Beam/AJC

Credit: Adam Beam/AJC

THE CONSERVATIVE CASE. The new state House bill to protect in vitro fertilization is sponsored by state Rep. Lehman Franklin. The Republican from Statesboro told the “Politically Georgia” podcast that he and his wife struggled with infertility for eight years before finally getting pregnant through IVF last year.

Although some religious conservatives have raised objections to IVF procedures, Franklin is a conservative former missionary himself. And he said he’s ready to defend IVF’s success in creating life.

“It’s been a miracle for us,” he said. “It’s a great thing. And I don’t believe that we would, my wife would be pregnant right now without this process.”

Baby girl Franklin is due June 3rd.

***

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

UNDER THE GOLD DOME. It’s the 19th day of the legislative session. Here are some of today’s happenings:

***

LISTEN UP. Today on “Politically Georgia,” Semafor’s Kadia Goba will discuss Congress’ push to fund the federal government and the money that’s earmarked for Georgia. And Harley Adsit, deputy chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons Island, talks about her side hustle co-hosting Capitol Hill’s cult favorite podcast, “Crime in Congress.”

Be sure to download the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Have a question for the show? Give us a call at 770-810-5297. Episodes are uploaded by noon each day, just in time to have lunch with us. You can also listen live at 10 a.m. EST on 90.1 FM WABE.

On Tuesday’s show, state Rep. Lehman Franklin, R-Statesboro, discussed his bill to guarantee access to in vitro fertilization. And state Rep. Saira Draper, D-Atlanta, talked about the impact of the Trump administration’s 10% cut to the workforce of Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

***

Credit: John McDonnell/AP

Credit: John McDonnell/AP

TODAY IN WASHINGTON:

***

Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC

Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC

TOWN HALLS. With the U.S. House of Representatives in recess this week, many members have scheduled virtual or in-person town halls in their district.

***

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

SHOUTOUTS. Today’s birthday:

Transition:

Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that! Click here to submit the shoutouts. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.

***

AS ALWAYS, send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.