Trump gets fast appeal in bid to yank Fani Willis from troubled Georgia election case
A judge ruled Wednesday that Donald Trump and eight other defendants in the Georgia election fraud case can proceed with an emergency appeal of his decision last week allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to stay on the prosecution despite her affair with the special prosecutor she hired to oversee it.
Defense lawyers for Trump and the others filed the emergency appeal Monday, notifying Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee that his March 15 decision "is of such importance to the case that immediate review" should be conducted. Such a request under Georgia law requires the judge's approval, and McAfee granted it Wednesday without significant comment.
In their request asking McAfee to grant a certificate of immediate review, the lawyers said his decision didn't go far enough. They not only want Willis and her entire office thrown off the case, but the charges dismissed altogether, as some of them petitioned in their initial court motions back in January.
McAfee's approval means that Trump and the others can now formally appeal his ruling to the Georgia state Court of Appeals, which must agree to hear the case in order for the appeal to go forward.
Those seeking the appeal include Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former New York mayor and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Trump 2020 campaign staffer Michael Roman, who first disclosed Willis' romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade in a bombshell Jan. 8 motion to disqualify her.
More: An 'odor of mendacity': Fani Willis decision is far from over in Trump election fraud case
McAfee ruled last Friday that Willis could stay in charge of the election fraud case against the former president if Wade stepped down. Wade did so hours later, allowing the sweeping racketeering case to go forward.
Steven Sadow, lead defense counsel for Trump in the Fulton County case, called McAfee's ruling "highly significant."
"The defense is optimistic that appellate review will lead to the case being dismissed and the DA being disqualified," Sadow said in a statement to USA TODAY.
Election fraud case to go forward while emergency appeal is considered
In his ruling Wednesday, McAfee also said that "unless directed otherwise by an appellate court," he will allow some aspects of the case to move forward.
"The Court intends to continue addressing the many other unrelated pending pretrial motions," McAfee wrote, "regardless of whether the petition is granted Fulton County Superior Court."
No trial date has been set in the case, in which Trump and 14 others are charged with conspiring by various illegal means to overturn President Joe Biden's win over Trump in the Peach State in 2020.
Lawyers for Trump and the other defendants now have 10 days to file the appeal. Then the Georgia appellate court has 45 days to decide whether to hear it.
If the appeals court agrees to hear the case, it could potentially disqualify Willis and the entire Fulton County district attorney’s office. That could delay significantly the sweeping election interference prosecution while a new prosecutor or DA’s office is picked to take over the case.
Clark Cunningham, a professor of law and ethics at Georgia State University College of Law, told USA TODAY that there’s a chance the Court of Appeals will not take the case, given what he says is its history of deferring to the judgement of the initial judge in question.
Either way, he said, whoever loses almost certainly will appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court, making it even less likely that Trump and others will sit before a jury before Election Day on Nov. 5.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fani Willis decision to be appealed by Trump, judge Scott McAfee rules
