East of the Mississippi River lies the youngest of the thirteen colonies, the state of Georgia. Georgia was founded in 1732, named into statehood January 2, 1788, and has since been greatly diminished in size. The state’s constitution has had twelve documents since the original constitution was issued in 1732. In 1777, Georgia came across their official first constitution. The constitution was then updated in 1789 and 1798. Consequently, in 1861, the constitution was improved towards the beginning of the Civil War and once again updated in 1865 in the respective date of the end of the war. As the Reconstruction era began to emerge, a new constitution did so also in 1868 and once again in 1877. The current constitution is one from 1983.
The person who currently resides in the governor chair in Georgia is Republican, Nathan Deal. Deal, a politician is Georgia’s 82nd presiding Governor. He has been in office since 2011 and quickly impacted Georgia. This includes; his mission to create countless private sector jobs, his great advances in promoting local small businesses in order to show development in the workforce, and helping Georgia become a key destination for all global industries. As Deal was elected into his position, the rest of the executive branch were also elected into their current positions. The governor is limited to two four-year terms. Unlike the governor, the Lieutenant governor can serve multiple terms. The Lieutenant General plays an important role as he is the interim governor if the Governor is not able to activity and rightfully pursue his responsibilities. A role a governor plays in Georgia is appointing agency heads, such as; Secretary of State, Attorney General, Agricultural Commissioner, and Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner. The governor plays many roles and is to be counted on for a multitude of responsibilities. These duties include; proposing new state laws, vetoing legislation, applying a line-item veto, maintaining and setting the state budget, and appointed the agency heads. In order for one to become a governor in Georgia, they must be a United States citizen for fifteen years, must be the age of thirty or older, and must have lived in the state for at least six years. The governor and Lieutenant Governor have the same qualifications. Interestingly, the governor is the only member limited to terms in the executive branch.
In Georgia, the legislative branch is called the Georgia General Assembly. This Assembly consists of the State Senate and the House of Representatives, called a bi- cameral legislature. The House of Representatives beats the State Senate with the amount of members as the House is represented by 180 members and the Senate insisting of fifty-six members. In the Georgia General Assembly, legislators are permitted to two-year terms with no limit in terms. The members consisting of the General Assembly are considered part-time as they meet are required to meet for a forty day session, usually commencing in January. In comparison to the Federal Legislative Branch, the Georgia General Assembly is primarily concerned with composing state laws. In order for a proposed bill to become an actual law, it must pass through both the State Senate and the House of Representatives. Once approved by both, the proposed bill will then make its way to the governor whom will accept it or veto it. In special circumstances, the proposed bill can be overthrown by a 2/3rd vote in the General Assembly.
The judicial branch in Georgia is formed by six dissimilar courts. The six include; the Municipal Court, the Juvenile Court, the State Court, the Magistrate Court, The Superior Court, and lastly the Probate court. The Municipal Court is primarily in charge of traffic citations and ordinance violation, offenses not too serious. The Juvenile Court is responsible for any crimes and cases entailing individuals under the age of eighteen. The State Court oversees civil cases and misdemeanors, while to Superior Court is in charge of civil cases, divorce, and felonies. The last two courts are not similar as the Magistrate Court is responsible for warrants and minor offenses and the Probate Court is in charge of managing wills, estates, and marriage licenses. In the Judicial Branch, judges are chosen in nonpartisan elections in which once elected serve a six year term. There are at all times, nine justices on the Supreme Court. If a judge has a desire to run for re-election, they are permitted to. There are two main qualifications to become a judge in Georgia, these include; being a resident of Georgia and having been practicing law for a minimum of seven years. The judicial branch also consists of two more courts which are used for appealing decisions; the Court of Appeals and the Georgia Supreme Court. One of several important court cases the Supreme Court of Georgia decided was Rome vs United States in 1980. This court endorsed the court’s authority with the Voting Act of 1965. This act required locations all over the country who have a history of discrimination to be required to receive federal approval in correspondence with voting changes.