Georgia Speaker rescinds ban on state senator after his arrest

Georgia Republican House Speaker Jon Burns rescinded a ban on a state senator after he was arrested Thursday for attempting to enter the House chamber and hear Gov. Brian Kemp’s (R) state address.

“While the Senator’s actions were despicable and hurtful to all who knew, respected and loved former Speaker David Ralston—we know that Speaker Ralston’s first priority was always to serve the people of our great state, and he wouldn’t want that important work to be hindered,” Burns said in a statement, according to multiple outlets.

Georgia state Sen. Colton Moore (R) was arrested on Thursday for attempting to enter the House chamber from which he was banned last year by Burns for deriding late ex-Georgia Speaker David Ralston, who at the time was being honored.

“For this reason, the Ralston family has expressed to their family here in the House that they desire for our Chamber to resume business as normal—with all members of the General Assembly present—for any future joint sessions with or without the apology they and the House deserve,” Burns said on Friday.

On Thursday, Moore tried to enter the chamber to listen to Kemp’s address to lawmakers. He was being blocked by staffers from entering and was thrown to the ground. Moore ended up being arrested by state troopers and was booked at Fulton County Jail with a misdemeanor charge, The Associated Press reported.

“How can a attorney for the speaker of the House do some wrestling move, throw the senator on to the ground, and the senator gets arrested with 18 state troopers standing there?” Moore told reporters on Friday, according to AP. “That is a constitutional crisis. That is tyranny.”

Moore, who has criticized GOP lawmakers in Georgia for not being supportive enough of President-elect Trump, was suspended from the GOP caucus in 2023 over calling for a special session to probe District Attorney Fani Willis, who indicted the president-elect for his alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

Willis was disqualified from the case over her relationship with a top prosecutor.
Moore, a northwestern Georgia senator, said he was released from jail on Thursday and added that he was getting treatment at Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital Midtown for his injuries.

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