Umair
Fani T. Willis asked the Georgia Supreme Court on Wednesday to put her back on the Trump election interference case.
Ms. Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Ga., petitioned the state’s high court to review a recent decision disqualifying her from prosecuting President-elect Donald J. Trump and his allies over efforts to keep him in power despite his loss in the 2020 election.
The move, which was expected, is Ms. Willis’s last chance to hold on to the prosecution, which stemmed from an investigation she began nearly four years ago.
Georgia’s Court of Appeals disqualified Ms. Willis and her entire office from the matter last month, in a 2-to-1 decision handed down by a panel of three judges appointed by Republican governors. That decision reversed the ruling of the trial judge, who had allowed Ms. Willis to keep the case despite revelations about a romantic relationship she had had with the lawyer she hired to manage the prosecution.
“No Georgia court has ever disqualified a district attorney for the mere appearance of impropriety without the existence of an actual conflict of interest,” Ms. Willis’s office wrote in its filing submitted late Wednesday night. “And no Georgia court has ever reversed a trial court’s order declining to disqualify a prosecutor based solely on an appearance of impropriety.”
The chances that Ms. Willis will have her disqualification reversed are not seen as good, because of the largely Republican makeup of the state’s highest court. And if her effort fails, the prosecution is seen as unlikely to continue. The case’s fate would fall to a Republican-led state panel.
It could take a few weeks before the Georgia Supreme Court decides whether to take the case; defense attorneys will very likely have an opportunity to weigh in first.
Even before the disqualification last month, Ms. Willis’s office had already been fending off attempts to derail her case. She has been sparring with Republicans in Congress over their efforts to subpoena documents from her office and with state Republican lawmakers over a legislative inquiry into her handling of the case.
Last year, the Atlanta case was one of four different criminal prosecutions faced by Mr. Trump. But his legal fortunes have turned around since he won the 2024 presidential election.
The Justice Department has moved to dismiss two criminal cases against Mr. Trump because of its policy against prosecuting sitting presidents — one for election interference and one for his handling of classified documents.
A New York jury found Mr. Trump guilty in May on 34 felony counts of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal. Though he is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday, the trial judge overseeing the case, Juan M. Merchan, signaled last week that he would spare Mr. Trump from jail time or any other substantive punishment.
A number of Mr. Trump’s current and former allies and advisers still face criminal charges in other states, including Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan.
