Any hopes Fulton County DA Fani Willis had of resuming her office’s lawfare against Donald Trump came crashing down on Tuesday after the Georgia Supreme Court rejected her motion to continue overseeing the case against the president and other Republicans.
In a 4-3 decision, the Peach State’s highest court declined to consider Willis’ appeal of a December 2024 ruling by the Georgia Court of Appeals. That decision disqualified Willis and her team from prosecuting Trump and the aforementioned Republicans following revelations that exposed acts of impropriety among the DA and her get-Trump allies.
As Tristan Justice previously wrote in these pages, “Willis was initially permitted to press forward with racketeering ‘RICO’ charges against Trump and 18 others after she was exposed for generously compensating [special prosecutor Nathan] Wade,” with whom Willis had a previous inappropriate romantic relationship. This compensation to Wade, Justice noted, “allowed the special prosecutor to shower [Willis] with romantic vacations. Only Wade was compelled to step down in March [2024] following roughly $1 million in payments for his work on the case.”
The Georgia Court of Appeals decision overturned a prior ruling by the trial court, which dismissed defendants’ motion to have Willis removed from the case. The appellate court concluded in its ruling that the lower court “erred by failing to disqualify [District Attorney] Willis and her office.“
“While we recognize that an appearance of impropriety generally is not enough to support disqualification, this is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings,” the Georgia Court of Appeals decision reads.
According to The Hill, the Georgia Supreme Court’s Tuesday decision represents “a death knell for the prosecution against Trump and his allies in Georgia” over their legal challenges to the state’s 2020 election results. While “Georgia’s Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council could appoint a new prosecutor to take on the case,” the outlet noted, “that process could take months, leaving the sprawling racketeering prosecution in limbo.”
Reacting to the dismissal of Willis’ attempt to resume control of the get-Trump prosecution, Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in the Peach State, released a statement praising the Georgia Supreme Court for “correctly den[ying] review” in the case.
“Willis’ misconduct during the investigation and prosecution of President Trump was egregious and she deserved nothing less than disqualification. This proper decision should bring an end to the wrongful political, lawfare persecutions of the President,” Sadow said.
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood