ATLANTA — Georgia’s second-highest court issued a ruling on Thursday that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified from the 2020 election interference prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump.
The order by the Georgia Court of Appeals states Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee “erred” with a previous ruling allowing Willis to remain on the case if special prosecutor Nathan Wade resigned. The order also disqualifies the whole Fulton County District Attorney’s Office from further prosecuting the case.
The ruling was a 2-1 decision from a three-judge Court of Appeals panel. In a filing Thursday afternoon, the District Attorney’s Office filed a notice of its intent to appeal the ruling to the Georgia Supreme Court.
The revelation of a romantic relationship between Willis and Wade embroiled the case in a months-long argument over whether the entanglement created an improper conflict of interest among the prosecutors.
“The remedy crafted by the trial court to prevent an ongoing appearance of impropriety did nothing to address the appearance of impropriety that existed at times when DA Willis was exercising her broad pretrial discretion about who to prosecute and what charges to bring,” the Court of Appeals order states. “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 Court of Appeals, however, did not dismiss the indictment outright, which had also been requested by defense attorneys.
“While this is the rare case in which DA Willis and her office must be disqualified due to a significant appearance of impropriety, we cannot conclude that the record also supports the imposition of the extreme sanction of dismissal of the indictment under the appropriate standard,” the order states.
However, the Thursday ruling may not be the last word on the matter now that the District Attorney’s Office has filed its own court document promising to appeal the decision to Georgia’s highest court.
Robert James, a former Dekalb County district attorney who served as a Democrat, said the case will effectively remain frozen on appeal until the state supreme court weighs in.
“Everything is going to be in stasis,” he said.
If the state supreme court ultimately upholds the appellate court’s ruling disqualifying Willis and her office, the future of the election interference prosecution would be in serious jeopardy. In that scenario, James said, the case would be transferred to the jurisdiction of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia. It would be up to that third-party organization to assign a new prosecutor to take over the case — who would have autonomy to review the entirety of the case.
“There’s no prosecutor’s office in the state of Georgia that’s going to get a case of this magnitude, of this import, and not say ‘listen, we’ve got to tear it down to the studs and look at everything and make a determination of what we should go forward on and what we shouldn’t go forward on,'” James said.
At a minimum, he said, that process would add a lengthy delay to the case. At a maximum, it could result in dismissals of charges or defendants.
Steve Sadow, Trump’s attorney in Georgia, said the Court of Appeals decision was “well-reasoned and just.”
In a statement, he said the Court of Appeals “highlighted that Willis’ misconduct created an ‘odor of mendacity’ and an appearance of impropriety that could only be cured by the disqualification of her and her entire office. As the Court rightfully noted, only the remedy of disqualification will suffice to restore public confidence. This decision puts an end to a politically motivated persecution of the next President of the United States.”
Ashleigh Merchant, the defense attorney who represents Trump co-defendant Michael Roman and who first brought the Willis-Wade relationship to light in a January court filing, praised the Court of Appeals decision.
“We are very pleased the (Court of Appeals) agreed with Mr. Roman and the other defendants that Ms. Willis should not have been allowed to prosecute this case,” she said via text message. “We regret that Ms. Willis did not do the right thing and voluntarily recuse herself when Mr. Roman raised the issue because failing to do so put Judge McAfee in an untenable position.”
The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday’s appellate ruling.
See the full order below. This is a developing story.