December 17, 2007

Georgia high court backtracks on ruling overturning sex offender residency restrictions

As you may recall from my previous blog posts, last month the Georgia Supreme Court overturned that state's residency restrictions against sex offenders. The law bans registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of schools, churches and other areas where children congregate.

But in a press release issued last week, the high court announced a "substitute opinion" drastically limiting the scope of the ruling. The new language limits the ruling to homeowners only, and only to the extent that residency restrictions might cause a "taking of [their] property without just and adequate compensation."

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the story here. The original decision in Mann v. the Georgia Department of Corrections is here.

Hat tip to How Appealing.