A legal expert has issued a warning for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis ahead of an expected move by former President Donald Trump to seek to remove his case from her jurisdiction and to a federal court.
The warning comes after former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows unsuccessfully attempted to remove his case last week, but then filed an appeal with the 11th Circuit Court.
The higher court has asked Willis for a brief containing her opinion about whether federal officials, generally, are eligible for the kind of immunity that Meadows is seeking and Trump will likely seek.
Georgia State Law professor Anthony Michael Kreis says that even if Willis manages to win the review, it will be short-lived and meaningless.
“I think this is a trap that Fani Willis should not walk into,” Kreis wrote on the X platform. “The consensus has generally been (and I think correct) that the current status of the defendant does not matter but what does matter is whether the acts that undergird the legal action are related to official duties.”
“Willis should shut this down despite it maybe giving Meadows a defeat,” continued Kreis. “First, it is a nasty kind of textualism that conservatives like and liberals should reject. Second, it introduces more unnecessary confusion and opens the door to a greater likelihood of Supreme Court review. Third, it makes little theoretical sense. If the idea of removal is to provide a neutral venue to persons employed by the gov’t or empowered by federal law from vindictive actions in state court, then the D’s current status is irrelevant. It’s about protecting federal integrity.”
He concluded: “Willis should politely decline the invitation to derail litigation and upend the removal statute.”
Willis should shut this down despite it maybe giving Meadows a defeat. First, it is a nasty kind of textualism that conservatives like and liberals should reject. Second, it introduces more unnecessary confusion and opens the door to a greater likelihood of Supreme Court review.
— Anthony Michael Kreis (@AnthonyMKreis) September 12, 2023
Willis should politely decline the invitation to derail litigation and upend the removal statute.
— Anthony Michael Kreis (@AnthonyMKreis) September 12, 2023
Another attorney and legal commentator, Bradley Moss, noted in response, “I concur.”
A legal analyst for CNN last week mocked Willis for claiming she wants to bring Trump and the 18 co-defendants she has charged with post-2020 election interference in Georgia to trial by next month.
Willis asked a court to schedule Trump’s trial in October, as the GOP primary is ongoing and heating up. But CNN’s Elie Honig sees no chance of that happening.
“There is no planet on which this case will be tried in the next few months due to the logjam that we just saw. Now we see all of these four different indictments, and they’re all jockeying for very limited trial space, but the D.A. has asked to try this in March,” told host Anderson Cooper.
“First of all, there is an ongoing racketeering trial right now that the D.A.’s office is handling in Georgia. They are still choosing a jury, they’re seven months in. I know that sounds unbelievable, but state jury selection is way slower than in federal cases,” Honig said.
“So, even if they start in March, they’d still be picking a jury on election day, so that is not happening. I understand what the D.A. is doing, she’s doing what prosecutors are trained to do. You always say, ‘We are ready to go, any day; we want to try everyone all together,’ but March is not happening for this case,” Honig added.
