Mask Up For Justice!
Mask Up For Justice, GTLA and GDLA recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented interruptions and delays in traditional court proceedings. With your help and donations, Mask Up For Justice will support the re-opening of Georgia’s judicial system and the resumption of jury trials by off-setting the substantial cost of the measures required for safe re-opening of court facilities.
Implementing measures to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and enabling court cases to proceed where possible is essential to our system of justice. Without question, “justice delayed is justice denied.” See State v. Johnson, 291 Ga. 863, 869 (2012)(quote in dissenting opinion given by Justice Harold Melton). Indeed, for “practical purposes the existence of a right depends on the availability of an effective remedy to enforce it.” Recycle & Recover v. Ga. Bd. of Natural Res., 266 Ga. 253, 255 (1996). To be sure, it has been a long held fundamental principle in Georgia that the courts seek to uphold law and expedite hearings “and to make certain the administration of justice without delay.” Georgia v. Am. Credit Control, Inc., 222 Ga. 512, 513 (1966). “We must continue to conform to this practice.” Id.