Fani Willis, the District Attorney of Fulton County, narrowly escaped disqualification in her hearing earlier this year and will be allowed to proceed with the case against former President Donald Trump. However, her troubles are far from over. During the hearing, Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court decided not to disqualify Willis from leading the Trump case on the condition that she ends her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, who has since stepped away.
In light of McAfee’s criticism of Willis’s actions, legal experts now believe that both her case against Trump and her career would benefit from her resignation. Although the judge did not find Willis guilty of perjury or financial misconduct involving Wade, he did express concern over her actions. McAfee alluded to an “odor of mendacity” in Willis’s testimony regarding her relationship with Wade, who resigned following the judge’s remarks. The case against Trump involves eighteen co-defendants and revolves around allegations of a conspiracy to influence the 2020 presidential election.
While the ruling allows Willis to pursue the case, she may face challenges to her law license from the State Bar of Georgia. Although experts do not believe these challenges will be successful based on available information, Willis may encounter resistance from other state regulators. Shortly after the decision, Andrew George, a trial attorney and adjunct professor at the Georgetown Law Center, stated, “She may have survived today and this opinion, but this issue is not going away.”
“The scrutiny is going to only build and build because her presentation and Mr. Wade’s presentation during this process were not convincing.” George continued, “If it were proven that she lied under oath, I think that would be grounds for disbarment. However, that would probably require more proof than currently exists.”
The case against Trump and others in Fulton County will be decided by three judges from the appeals court. These judges were selected by Republican governors. The Georgia Court of Appeals has officially accepted the case and assigned judges Todd Markle, Trenton Brown, and Benjamin Land to hear the oral arguments on October 4th.
This appeal is expected to be the most high-profile in the court’s history. Judge Brown replaced Judge Yvette Miller on the panel after she recused herself from the case. Yvette Miller, appointed by former Democratic Governor Roy Barnes, was the first black woman to serve on the appeals court. It is unclear why Miller stepped aside, but she will be retiring at the end of the year. All three judges have previously served as trial judges before being appointed to the appellate court, as reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
–Markle, who was appointed to the court by Gov. Nathan Deal in 2018, is a former Fulton County Superior Court judge.
–Land, who was appointed to the bench two years ago by Gov. Brian Kemp, is a former Superior Court judge for the six-county Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit in West Georgia.
–Brown, appointed by Deal in 2018, served as a Superior Court judge for the eight-county Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit in central Georgia.
Despite the fact that most cases heard by the court are resolved without oral arguments, the three-judge panel is expected to listen to arguments regarding this appeal. Marietta attorney Ashleigh Merchant has publicly stated her intention to request the court to hold oral arguments on behalf of Mike Roman, one of the remaining 14 co-defendants in the racketeering case involving Trump. In January, Merchant became the first defense lawyer to file for Willis’ disqualification in the case.
It is predicted that the panel will not deliver a verdict before the presidential election in November. According to the Georgia Constitution, a decision must be reached within two court terms, meaning the justices would need to make a decision by mid-March 2025. While most cases are typically decided approximately eight and a half months after being initially docketed, the judges may choose to expedite the process.
The appeals court is known to be one of the busiest courts in the country. Although most of its current members were appointed by serving governors and subsequently reelected, the fifteen members are nonpartisan and elected to staggered six-year terms. The announcement was made shortly after the appeals court received a substantial number of background documents from the clerk of the Fulton Superior Court. These documents included copies of the indictment, bond orders for the nine defendants who requested an appeal, previous court filings, and decisions made by Judge McAfee.
Additionally, the court also received transcripts of the evidentiary hearing from February, which featured sworn evidence from Willis and Nathan Wade—the former special prosecutor whose romantic relationship with the DA prompted the defendants’ attempt to have the entire office removed from the case.
