Statement by John Barrow on Ruling in Barrow v. Raffensperger

The Georgia Supreme Court issued its ruling in Barrow v.
Raffensperger on Thursday, a suit in which Barrow is challenging the decision of the Secretary of State to cancel the upcoming election for Justice Keith Blackwell’s seat on the Georgia Supreme Court.

The Court ruled that a judge can set aside the election of anyone else to succeed him (even after the election has already happened) if a judge resigns after the election and before the successor takes office.

In response, Barrow issued this statement:

“First, I want to thank the dissenting judges who actually did the work
of proving that the voters who ratified our Constitution never intended
anything like this.

“Second, this decision has been tainted, from the beginning, by the
refusal of 3 of the justices to step aside, and by their failure to replace
one of their colleagues who did step aside. The result was tainted when
Justices Nahmias and Melton, the two leaders of the Court, and Justice
Warren refused to step aside.

“No judge should have an interest in deciding a case. It’s clear that these justices had an interest in deciding this case, and it’s not hard to
see to see where their interests lay.

“Finally, the justices who refused to step aside have once again blamed
the voters for their lousy decision. This is a pattern on the part of these
justices – every time they misinterpret our Constitution, they blame the
voters who ratified it. We saw it when they blamed the voters for their
ruling that Georgia citizens cannot sue their own state government in
state courts when the government violates their rights. And we see it
now as they take away the only power that the people have to elect a
justice of their own.

“We’ll continue to see these justices blaming the voters for their bad
decisions – until we replace them.

“Yesterday in Wisconsin we saw, once again, the importance of the
people’s right to elect their state supreme court justices. Today, we get
a reminder from our own Supreme Court. Judges should not
manipulate the law the way the Brian Kemp and Justice Blackwell have
manipulated this election.”