ATLANTA — The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear arguments stemming from a 2017 law passed by the state legislature that allowed guns onto public colleges and universities where they had once been barred.
The session starts at 10 a.m. and can be seen at a stream on the state Supreme Court's website.
According to a summary issued by the court, several professors in the University System of Georgia sued against the law after it was passed, saying it "effectively invalidated the Board of Regents' previous policies restricting firearms on its campuses and violated the Board's constitutional authority over the USG and its institutions."
A Fulton County court ruled against the professors on several grounds, including that they didn't have standing and that their suit was barred by sovereign immunity.
The court also found the lawsuit was moot because the Board of Regents later acknowledged the law and directed member institutions to follow it, a ruling the professors in their appeal argued is particularly flawed.
"It is undisputed both that guns had been banned from University System campuses for over two centuries, and that the Board abruptly reversed course only upon passage of the Guns on Campus Laws (which the Board publicly opposed)," a filing states.
The state, represented by the Georgia Attorney General's Office, argues the sovereign immunity decision was correct and that the standing decision was a correct one because any harm resulting out of the law alleged by the professors was speculative.
The state also argues the determination the matter was moot was correct, noting that the professors failed to provide any evidence that "the Board of Regents would reverse its policy and adopt contrary policies in line with the preferred policies" they sought.
"As a result, the superior court correctly held that Plaintiffs' claims were moot as there was no showing that striking down the Campus Carry Laws would provide Plaintiffs the relief that they wanted in their respective work environments," the state argues.