Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has asked Georgia’s highest court to review a lower appeals court’s ruling that removed her from the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and others.
The Georgia Court of Appeals last month ruled that Willis and her office could not continue to prosecute the case because of an “appearance of impropriety” created by a romantic relationship she had with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she had hired to lead the case. In a petition filed late Wednesday, Willis asked the Georgia Supreme Court to review and reverse that decision.
The filing argues that the 2-1 ruling “overreached the Court of Appeals’ authority,” creating a new standard for disqualification of a prosecutor and disregarding decades of precedent.
Even if the high court eventually rules in Willis’ favor, it seems unlikely that she will be able to prosecute Trump, who returns to the White House on Jan. 20. But there are 14 other defendants who still face charges in the case.
A grand jury in Atlanta indicted Trump and 18 others in August 2023, using the state’s anti-racketeering law to accuse them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to overturn Trump’s narrow 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia. The alleged scheme included Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger urging him to help find enough votes to beat Biden. Four people have pleaded guilty. Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty.
