Judges still unhappy as Augusta-area court split advances
January 20, 2021 GMT
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) Judges are still unhappy about a plan to split a Georgia judicial circuit to give a suburban county its own court system and district attorney.
Columbia County officials, backed by their Republican lawmakers, want their county to have a separate three-judge circuit, leaving what has been the three-county Augusta circuit which includes Richmond and Burke counties.
Columbia County says the move would save money, but some have objected to a split which began moving forward weeks after voters elected the circuit’s first-ever Black district attorney.
Augusta commissioners, resigned that the Republican-dominated General Assembly would create a new circuit for Columbia, voted to support the move, under the condition that the remaining two-county Augusta circuit would have five judges.