A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked part of a Georgia law that allows individuals or groups who don’t meet bail bonds companies’ standards to post bail only three times a year.
U.S. District Judge Victoria Marie Calvert blocked parts of Senate Bill 63 for 14 days before it goes into effect on July 1, Associated PressThe judge instructed lawyers to argue whether the bill should be delayed until litigation over it is resolved.
The blocked provisions limit individuals and organizations from posting cash bail more than three times in a year unless they meet the requirements of bail bonds companies, such as passing a background check, paying fees, holding a business license, getting approval from a local sheriff and setting up a cash escrow account or other collateral.
Calvert has allowed other parts of the law to go ahead, such as requiring cash bail before people charged with certain crimes can be released from pretrial detention. The list of 30 offenses includes 18 that are always or often misdemeanors, such as failing to appear in court for a traffic ticket.
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A federal judge has temporarily blocked a portion of a Georgia law that allows a person or entity to pay a bond only three times a year. (Associated Press)
The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia and the Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy filed the lawsuit last week on behalf of the Byrd Business Foundation, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that promotes bail-posting efforts, and two Athens residents who run a charitable bail fund in partnership with a church.
The lawsuit argues the law’s limits on bail are unconstitutional and asks a judge to block them.
The law “imposes perhaps the most stringent charity bail restrictions in the nation,” the lawsuit argues, adding that the charity bail restrictions are “incredibly burdensome, perhaps insurmountable, unreasonable and arbitrary.”
The restrictions would “effectively eliminate charitable bail funds in Georgia,” according to the lawsuit.
The Bail Project, a national nonprofit that helps thousands of low-income people pay bail, said earlier this month that the law had forced it to close its Atlanta office.
“We are heartened by the judge’s ruling and recognition that this law is unnecessary, harmful and likely unconstitutional,” Corey Isaacson, legal director of the ACLU of Georgia, said in a statement. “We feel relieved for the plaintiffs and the many people they support across the state. It is unjust that charitable bail bond workers should face criminal penalties simply for helping people languishing in jail because of poverty and who have no other means of relief.”
The state argued in briefs filed Thursday that the law doesn’t violate the plaintiffs’ rights to free speech and association because it only restricts non-speech conduct, and that the plaintiffs can still criticize Georgia’s bail system and that posting bail essentially sends no message.
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The lawsuit argues that the law’s limits on bail amounts are unconstitutional. (iStock)
Supporters of the bill argue that bona fide organizations should have no problem following the same rules that bail bonds companies must adhere to.
The legislation comes amid a Republican push to restrict community bail funds after they were used to provide bail for demonstrators arrested during 2020 racial justice protests and later for demonstrators protesting the construction of a public safety training center in Atlanta, a city critics have dubbed a “cop city.”
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State prosecutors said some of the “Stop Cop City” protesters had the phone number of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund written on their bodies, which they said was evidence the protesters were planning to take part in illegal activity.
Three bail fund leaders were indicted on charity fraud charges last year. They were among 61 people indicted on fraud charges.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
