Erin C. McAlister v. Wendi L. Clifton

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ September 01, 2021 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A21A1264. MCALISTER v. CLIFTON.

In this case, Appellant challenges the trial court’s ruling granting the Appellee’s petition for parental rights under the Equitable Caregiver Statute, OCGA § 19-7-3.1, raising numerous arguments of error, including that the trial court erred by finding that her constitutional challenge to the statute was without merit.1 The Supreme Court of Georgia “has exclusive jurisdiction over all cases involving construction of the Constitution of the State of Georgia and of the United States and all cases in which the constitutionality of a law, ordinance, or constitutional provision has been called into question.”2 This exclusive jurisdiction extends “only to constitutional issues that were distinctly ruled on by the trial court and that do not involve the application of unquestioned and unambiguous constitutional provisions or challenges to laws previously held to be constitutional against the same attack.”3

Here, the trial court expressly rejected the Appellant’s constitutional challenge to OCGA § 19-7-3.1, which challenge appears to present an issue of first impression. Because the Supreme Court has the ultimate responsibility for determining appellate jurisdiction,4 we hereby TRANSFER this appeal to the Supreme Court for disposition.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 09/01/2021 I certify that the above is a true extract from the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia. Witness my signature and the seal of said court hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.