Breaking News - Atlanta Airport Carry OK!

Re: Breaking News at 6:00 on Channel 11!!!!!

rmodel65 said:

i assume this is an atlanta station??? anyone have any news about the oral arguments for the non resident case that took place today??

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Rmodel65: I attended the argument today. J Monroe can you give a more detailed rundown, of course, but my take on the oral arguments today re non-resident licensing is that GCO will not obtain a ruling in its favor in this round of litigation. One judge expressed his very strong opinion that there was no justiciable case or controversy for the court to decide/the matter is not ripe for appellate review (this is a threshold legal standard for having a case in a federal court). The judge said that because the non-resident did not physically go to the probate court, fill out an application and have it denied or have the probate judge (not the clerk to whom the probate judge delegated full authority for the licensing process, but the judge herself) refuse to give the non-resident an application, that no harm had been committed and thus there was no case or controversy to adjudicate (federal courts cannot issue "advisory opinions"). Part of the judge's concern was a legal technicality that can be cured in the filing of new lawsuit alleging slightly different facts.

Another judge seemed to partially agree, but was open to another legal argument, that the statute on its face presented the justiciable case or controversy because if the probate judge followed the law the application for a license by a non-resident would be denied. I didn't get a good read on the third judge on the panel, who asked very few questions.

The arguments never got beyond this threshold issue of whether this case was properly before the Circuit Court.

At any rate, what was made clear is that if the non-resident goes to the probate court and is denied the opportunity to apply, or the application is denied, the case can be re-filed alleging these more specific facts. Bascially, the non-resident has to jump through the hoops, then start the litigation over from the beginning.