We haven’t heard all that much about the Georgia criminal case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis against President-elect Donald Trump and several associates regarding the 2020 election of late. In part, that’s because proceedings in the case have been stayed pending the appeal over whether Willis should be removed from the case.
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While that’s still being sorted out, however, former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, one of the other named defendants in the case, has been pressing his bid to remove the case against him to federal court on the basis that any actions he is alleged to have taken in the indictment were performed in the course of his federal employment and, therefore, do not fall within the state court’s jurisdiction.
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Meadows lost that bid at the trial court level in September of 2023 when United States District Court Judge Steven C. Jones concluded “that Meadows has not shown that the actions that triggered the State’s prosecution related to his federal office” and that “Meadows’s alleged association with post-election activities was not related to his role as White House Chief of Staff or his executive branch authority.”
Subsequently, Meadows appealed that decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In December, that court also rejected that effort, ruling that the applicable statute doesn’t apply to former federal officials, but even if it does, Meadows failed to establish that he was acting in his official capacity when engaging in the conduct in question.
Meadows then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, asking them to review the lower courts’ denial of his request for removal. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court denied certiorari on the matter, thus effectively ending Meadows’ bid to have the case against him moved to federal court.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court refused Tuesday to let former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows move the election interference case against him in Georgia to federal court, where he would have argued he was immune from prosecution.
The justices did not detail their reasoning in a brief order denying his appeal, as is typical. There were no publicly noted dissents.
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Attorney George Terwilliger said Meadows will continue to assert his innocence in state court, and expects to win an exoneration.
Of course, in light of Trump’s reelection and the concomitant fizzling of the cases against him, one wonders how vigorously Willis’ office will continue to pursue his co-defendants. The nice thing is…we’ll get a chance to see.
