GA's High Court Rules On DA Fani Willis' Appeal In Trump Case

UPDATED 3:37 p.m.

ATLANTA, GA — The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' appeal on a ruling that removed her from an election interference case against President Donald Trump and eight other public figures.

Patch has obtained a copy of the court's 33-page decision, which agreed with the Georgia Court of Appeals' ruling in December 2024 that barred Willis from a case that charges Trump with racketeering and accuses him of attempting to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

The Supreme Court voted 4-3 to not review the Appeals Court's decision to remove Willis. One of the justices did not participate, and one was disqualified from voting.

“Willis’ misconduct during the investigation and prosecution of President Trump was egregious and she deserved nothing less than disqualification,” Steve Sadow, Trump’s attorney in the Georgia case, said in a statement to the Associated Press.

Willis said she disagreed with the court’s decision, but would direct her office to make the case file and evidence available to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia so it can appoint a new prosecutor to replace her.

“I hope that whoever is assigned to handle the case will have the courage to do what the evidence and the law demand,” Willis said in an emailed statement to the Associated Press.

Trump, in a Truth Social post published Tuesday afternoon, called the Supreme Court's ruling a "big win for justice and law in Georgia."

The Appeals ruling came after Willis' suspected romantic relationship with her top prosecutor, Nathan Wade, was made public and after a trial court ordered either Willis or Wade leave the case due to the relationship. Ultimately, Wade resigned from the case.

"In doing so, the defendants did not contest the appearance-of-impropriety finding, but they contended that the trial court’s 'one of you has to go' version of disqualification was error, and that it should have instead simply disqualified the district attorney," the Supreme Court said in its latest decision.

Trump was one of 19 high-profile figures to be arrested in August 2023 at the Fulton County Jail, accused of crimes such as violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act andconspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements and writings.

Willis' recent appeal would have affected the case against Trump; former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows; former New York City Mayor Rudolph Guiliani; Harrison Floyd III, a Trump supporter accused of harassing an election worker; former U.S. Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark; Attorney Robert Cheeley; former Trump campaign official Michael Roman; Cathy Latham, former chairwoman of the Coffee County Republican Party; and former Georgia GOP Chair David Shafer.

Other arrestees in the case were former Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro, former Kanye West publicist Trevian Kutti, Trump former campaign attorney John Eastman, Atlanta bail bondsman Scott Hall, Rev. Stephen Lee, Georgia Sen. Shawn Still and former Coffee County elections supervisor Misty Hampton. Some of their cases have been severed.

RELATED:

• Fani Willis Removed From Trump's Election Interference Case
• Trump's First Amendment Challenge In GA RICO Case Denied, Judge Says
• Trump Charged With Violating RICO Act In Election Interference Case
• Trump Can Appeal Ruling Keeping Fulton DA On RICO Case, Judge: Report
• GA Judge Dismisses 2 Charges Against Donald Trump In Subversion Case

The Associated Press contributed reporting and writing.