The legal fight to reinstate a Georgia sheriff who's under federal indictment on felony charges related to his office got the attention of the Georgia Court of Appeals.

Appellant counsel for suspended Clayton County Sheriff Victor K. Hill argued Gov. Brian Kemp needed to bring back the elected official in accord with state law. But across the aisle, appellee attorneys for the state deemed gubernatorial intervention unnecessary, arguing a writ of mandamus couldn't force the governor's hand, since the suspended sheriff could have sought declaratory judgment to return to work.