DeKalb County State Court Judge Dax Lopez, a one-time board member and fundraiser with the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO), has been bypassed by Gov. Brian Kemp for a Stone Mountain Superior Court judgeship. Instead, the appointment goes to DeKalb State Court Traffic Division Judge Shondeana Morris, an African-American Mercer University law school graduate who Kemp labeled “the right choice.”
Judge Shondeana Morris
An odd coalition of liberals along with a few GOP attorneys who appear before Lopez or who are friends urged the governor to appoint the unsuccessful Obama nominee for a federal judgeship. But nothing has changed from 2016 when Lopez was rejected for that post by both of Georgia’s U.S. senators over criticism that he was biased in favor of an “open borders” philosophy.
In recent weeks Lopez’s critics reminded the governor that GALEO has long supported amnesty for illegal aliens and opposes local law enforcement cooperation under the 287(g) program.
“From the moment we began working with ICE (Immigration Customs and Enforcement) there has been a constant effort by GALEO to discredit, discourage and disband the partnership,” Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren declared. “In fact, in my 38 years of law enforcement service in Cobb County… I have never seen an organization work harder against the interest of Georgians. They have insulted the front line of law enforcement officers that protect our nation’s borders while aggressively lobbying against legislation intended to protect our citizens here in Georgia.”
Three years ago Warren and other Lopez critics charged that his service as a GALEO director and fund-raiser constituted “a conflict of interest” since he and the lobbying group he oversaw opposed the very immigration enforcement laws that he is supposedly sworn to uphold. At the time, various lawyers across the political spectrum said no judge should serve on the board of a political lobbying group. The governor remembered, which insiders say helped lead him to appoint the qualified Morris.
