A Pike County Superior Court judge facing ethics charges that could result in his removal from the bench claims the state judicial watchdog agency that pressed claims against him was illegally constituted two years ago and has no authority to discipline him.

Former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, who is defending Judge Robert “Mack” Crawford in the ethics inquiry, also contends that, when the formerly independent state Judicial Qualifications Commission was abolished by constitutional amendment in 2016 and re-established as a creature of the Georgia General Assembly, no provision was included to allow the new JQC to take disciplinary measures against a judge for actions that took place before the amendment passed.