On Wednesday the Georgia Supreme Court rejected the state law that banned registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of schools, churches or other places where children could congregate.

The court overturned the law on grounds that it was unconstitutional and deprived the offenders of their property rights.

The law was adopted in 2006 by state lawmakers and it also included more than 150,000 school bus stops in the state and it applied even when a church, school was opened in the area that a sex offender was already living in, the New York Times reports.

The court opinion, written by Presiding Justice Carol W. Hunstein said: “Under the terms of that statute, it is apparent that there is no place in Georgia where a registered sex offender can live without being continually at risk of being ejected.”

The law was also contested by groups like the Southern Center for Human Rights, which said that the law would make the offenders live in their cars, tents in the woods thus thwarting the efforts to keep track of them. It will also make sex offenders go underground.

The lawmakers that adopted the law said that the statute was crucial to protect the children.

State Representative Jerry Keen, a Republican, sponsored the legislation and said that he will redraft the law and reintroduce it in January, when the legislature, formally the General Assembly, meets again.

He said in a statement: “In the meantime, convicted felony sex offenders will be allowed to live next door to day care centers, school bus stops or anywhere else they choose.”

Courts in the country have begun to feel uncomfortable with the new state laws that impose such restrictions. In many cases the restrictions are so large that they forces sex offenders to become homeless when they can not find a place to stay that meets the legal requirements.

The decision from Wednesday only applies to Georgia’s law.