The Supreme Court of Georgia has ordered the state Judicial Qualifications Commission to reconsider its three-year-old advisory opinion that prohibits the state’s judges from barring the public from their courtrooms except in rare circumstances. The court also found it has authority to review the watchdog agency’s advisory opinions, even though it has never before done so.
In a 22-page ruling issued Wednesday, the high court held that the JQC’s 2013 open courts opinion, which rests on U.S. Supreme Court precedent, overstepped the JQC’s legal bounds in suggesting that children could not be barred from court proceedings without a finding by the court. The high court also took issue with the JQC’s identification of certain actions by court personnel that might limit or discourage public access as potentially unconstitutional—including a requirement that visitors identify themselves and state their business. Those findings were also beyond the scope of the JQC’s authority, the state justices held.
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