|

Bail Bonds in San Francsico. (Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM) Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM)

The Bail Project, a national nonprofit that aids thousands of low-income people behind bars, said Monday it is reopening its Atlanta branch after a judge temporarily blocked part of a Georgia law that restricts organizations from helping people pay bail.

Last month, the Bail Project said it would no longer be able to help people post bond in Georgia because of a new Republican-backed law limiting people and organizations from posting more than three cash bonds in a year unless they meet extensive requirements to become bail bond companies.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia and others sued, calling it a "cruel" law that "makes it illegal for people to exercise their First Amendment rights to help those who are detained solely because they are poor."

U.S. District Judge Victoria Marie Calvert on July 12 granted a preliminary injunction sought by the plaintiffs, ruling that the three-bond limit is essentially arbitrary.