Chief Justice says Senate budget cuts micro-managing

Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears has written legislative leaders a letter saying budget cuts approved by the State Senate this week amount to micro-managing the judiciary.

That, she said is “inconsistent with the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers.”

The letter asks budget negotiators to restore about $2 million in budget cuts. Among the cuts she wants restored is more than $1 million for judicial training. The Senate budget plan would charge judges and court personnel for the training. She calls another pot of money the Senate is counting on for revenue from the judicial council “budgetary fiction.” 

The judicial budget is often a place lawmakers raid to get a little extra money for the projects they want to fund. Gov. Sonny Perdue and legislators have called it padded in the past, a charge the judges have strongly denied.