Supreme Court Restores Botanical Garden Case

The Supreme Court of Georgia has restored a firm case against the Atlanta Botanical Garden that was orally argued in May 2019. The firm brought the case on behalf of GeorgiaCarry.Org, Inc. and Phillip Evans, challenging a policy of the Garden of banning firearms at its premises. The Court of Appeals earlier had affirmed the dismissal of the case by the Superior Court of Fulton County. The Supreme Court reversed, unanimously ruling that the case should not have been dismissed and that the Garden failed to prove that it had an estate in the land that qualified it as “private property.” The case now moves back to the lower courts for consideration of whether the Garden may continue its policy of banning guns.