Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-1150_new_d18e.pdf
Page Number: 6

Cite as:  590 U. S. ____ (2020) 

3 

Opinion of the Court 

Senate or House of Representatives.  The Commission re-
ceives funding through appropriations “provided for the leg-
islative  branch  of  state  government.”  OCGA  §28–9–2(c)
(2018).  And it is staffed by the Office of Legislative Coun-
sel, which is obligated by statute to provide services “for the 
legislative branch of government.”  §§28–4–3(c)(4), 28–9–4.
Under the Georgia Constitution, the Commission’s role in
compiling the statutory text and accompanying annotations 
falls “within the sphere of legislative authority.”  Harrison 
Co. v. Code Revision Comm’n, 244 Ga. 325, 330, 260 S. E. 
2d 30, 34 (1979).

Each  year,  the  Commission  submits  its  proposed  statu-
tory text and accompanying annotations to the legislature 
for approval.  The legislature then votes to do three things:
(1)  “enact[ ]”  the  “statutory  portion  of  the  codification  of 
Georgia  laws”;  (2)  “merge[ ]”  the  statutory  portion  “with
[the]  annotations”;  and  (3)  “publish[ ]”  the  final  merged 
product  “by  authority  of  the  state”  as  “the  ‘Official  Code
of  Georgia  Annotated.’ ”    OCGA  §1–1–1  (2019);  see  Code 
Revision  Comm’n  v.  Public.Resource.Org,  Inc.,  906  F.  3d 
1229, 1245, 1255 (CA11 2018); Tr. of Oral Arg. 8. 

The annotations in the current OCGA were prepared in
the first instance by Matthew Bender & Co., Inc., a division 
of the LexisNexis Group, pursuant to a work-for-hire agree-
ment with the Commission.  The agreement between Lexis
and the Commission states that any copyright in the OCGA
vests  exclusively  in  “the  State  of  Georgia,  acting  through
the Commission.”  App. 567.  Lexis and its army of research-
ers perform the lion’s share of the work in drafting the an-
notations,  but  the  Commission  supervises  that  work  and 
specifies what the annotations must include in exacting de-
tail.  See 906 F. 3d, at 1243–1244; App. 269–278, 286–427 
(Commission specifications).  Under the agreement, Lexis 
enjoys the exclusive right to publish, distribute, and sell the 
OCGA.  In exchange, Lexis has agreed to limit the price it
may  charge  for  the  OCGA  and  to  make  an  unannotated