Georgia Constitution Amendment

[Hosnon]

Hi everyone. I'm in Mississippi in law school and just sent out my absentee ballot. On the ballot in GA, there is a question about amending the jurisdiction of the state courts. I asked my professor and here is what he said to me:

Please excuse this late response. Regrettably, I have fallen behind in my correspondence.

One of the problems with diversity jurisdiction is that federal courts are asked to hear state law cases * sometimes in matters in which state law is unclear or in matters in which there is no state law at all. The federal court is left "guessing" what state law is in these contexts * and often gets state law wrong. In such cases there is no way for the federal court's wrong legal decision on a matter of state law to be corrected by the state, because federal court cases are appealed in the federal system, not into the state system.

Similarly, sometimes one state applies the law of another state in a tort or other action. In such cases, if the forum state gets the law of another state wrong, again, there is no way for that wrong legal decision to be corrected, because an action tried in one state is appealed in the forum state.

One judicial administration innovation in the last forty years has been what is called "certification." Some states * Mississippi is one * allow a federal court to certify a legal question to the Mississippi Supreme Court. In certification, the federal court of appeals is allowed to ask our state supreme a question about state law. The Mississippi Supreme Court, if it accepts the certified question (and it is not required to do so), answers the legal question only. After the legal question is answered, the case is returned to the federal court to apply the law to the facts of the case. Our Supreme Court does not decide the case, it merely states what state law would be in a given context.

So, too, some states allow another state to ask it questions about state law. For example, if a Tennessee court had an issue governed by New York law, the Tennessee court could "certify" a question to the New York court. Inter-state certification otherwise works the same as inter-system (federal to state) certification. Again, the court accepting the certification only answers the legal question.

I assume that Georgia's supreme court * under Georgia's constitution * does not appellate subject matter jurisdiction to hear anything other than appeals from its own state courts. The amendment, therefore, would give the Georgia Supreme Court authority to answer certified questions, which is a very good thing from the point of view of judicial administration.

Last line says he thinks it is a very good thing and it seems to me that it is as well.

VOTE YES

[Laelth]

1. I agree.

I'm at law school here in Macon, (Mercer Law), and voting yes will allow the Georgia Supreme Court to accept certified questions on Georgia law from the Federal District Courts and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Don't know why they didn't feel they had the authority to accept such questions before, but I see no reason not to give them that authority now. Allows for more uniform application of the law.

Vote NO on Amendment 1 (defining marriage)

Vote YES on Amendment 2 (giving the GA Supremes authority to accept certified questions from federal courts)

just my opinion, of course ... :smoke:

-Laelth

[Hosnon]

2. Agree With You

On both amendments.

Thinking about attempting to transfer to GSU Law. How is Mercer?

[Laelth]

3. Expensive.

But equally ranked with GSU. I'm pleased with the education. Very conservative student body here, though. I suspect GSU is more liberal.

:smoke:

-Laelth

[Hosnon]

4. Understand

I'm at MC in Jackson, MS. Pretty much all conservatives. I gotta get out:)