Court Opinion

ID: 9539615
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:06:54.617476+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:59:02.958970
License: Public Domain

CARLEY, Justice,
concurring.
I concur fully with the majority opinion, and write separately only to recognize the importance of Division 1 of the opinion. It is well established that this Court does not ever pass upon the constitutionality of a statute unless it clearly appears in the record that the issue was directly and properly raised in the trial court and distinctly passed on by the trial judge. In the Interest of J. R. R., 281 Ga. 662-663 (641 SE2d 526) (2007). However, prior to today, this Court had never expressly determined whether a trial judge, in order to distinctly pass on a properly made constitutional challenge, must do so in a written order, or if an oral ruling will suffice. As explained by today’s opinion, a distinct, oral ruling, reflected in a transcript, is sufficient and need not be reduced to writing, in order to invoke this Court’s exclusive appellate jurisdiction in cases in which the constitutionality of a law has been drawn into question. See Ga. Const, of 1983, Art. VI, Sec. VI, Par. II (1).