Georgia Senate Republicans have filed a formal complaint seeking to punish Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for seeking charges against former President Donald Trump under a new law aimed at punishing “rogue” prosecutors.
The complaint alleges that Willis “improperly cherry-picked cases to further her personal political objectives,” prompting the newly established Prosecuting Attorney Qualifications Commission to launch an investigation and sanction her. It calls for “appropriate measures” to be taken to do so.
“The integrity of our nation’s justice system is at stake, and community trust in the district attorney’s office has been seriously eroded,” a group of eight state senators wrote in the bill, which takes effect Oct. 1. The complaint, filed several hours later, states:
Republicans do not specifically mention Trump in their complaint, but they “order a special grand jury to investigate his political opponent” amid a spate of deaths at the Fulton County Jail and years of unsolved cases. I tried to relate Mr. Willis’s decision.
Willis, who has criticized the law as racist and retaliatory, declined to comment through a spokesperson. But she has long said she can balance the high-profile trial in the Trump case with the government’s other demands.
The accusation deepened an already deep rift among state Republicans over Mr. Trump.
Gov. Brian Kemp, the law’s chief sponsor, said Willis would seek any sanctions from the committee for indicting Trump and his allies for participating in a “criminal enterprise” to overturn the 2020 presidential election. He has repeatedly said there is no evidence that he should receive it. In Georgia.
But Kemp criticized the timing of the charges.
“I’ve never seen her do anything that violated the law or our procedures, and I’ve been very honest with people about that,” Kemp said in a recent interview. said in an interview. “While it may be a political move on her part in terms of timing and other aspects, that doesn’t mean it’s illegal.”
But the Republican-controlled state Senate forcefully defeated that approach. Senate leaders encouraged voters to file charges with the committee shortly after Willis announced the charges in August.
And last week, Senate Republicans launched an investigation into dangerous conditions at the Fulton County Jail, which is expected to scrutinize Willis’ handling of a backlog of cases exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
The document, reviewed Monday by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, was filed by a group that included the Senate Majority Leader. steve gooch and state senator. Jason Anavitarteanother high-ranking Republican in the chamber.
The complaint alleges that Willis “prioritized cases that served his political party’s interests” rather than looking at the merits of each case. And it calls out the 10 inmates who have died in Fulton County custody over the past year.
“The selective prosecution of her resulted in dangerous, deadly, and unjustified overcrowding in local jails and an unprecedented case backlog in the judicial system,” the complaint states. “These results are unacceptable and harmful to our country.”
Democrats immediately accused Senate Republicans of engaging in political theater that subverts the rule of law.
“Fani Willis is in the business of upholding the rule of law. President Trump and 18 co-defendants were indicted by a grand jury on charges of attempting to overturn the election results,” the state senator said. . Nabila Islam Parks added that she was “deeply troubled by any attempt to thwart lawful prosecution for political purposes.”
Clark Cunningham, a Georgia State University law professor who has written extensively on constitutional law, said the complaint should not have been filed anywhere.
“This legislation is intended to set a fairly high bar for unusual interventions like this,” Cunningham said. “And complaints like this appear to be an inappropriate use of the oversight process.”
The accusations reverberated throughout Gold Dome, but especially rocked the Georgia Senate.
State senator. Sean StillThe first-term Republican was charged in connection with his role as a Republican elector after signing a false certification claiming that Trump won Georgia in the 2020 presidential election. . Lt. Gov. Bert Jones, the chamber’s president and President Trump’s elector, also could be indicted. Both claim they did nothing wrong.
Many rank-and-file Republicans are under immense pressure from Trump’s allies to rebuke Willis, even if only symbolically.
The uproar is being fueled in part by state senators. colton mooreHe singled out his Republican colleagues for refusing to support the politically impossible and likely illegal push to impeach Willis.
Two of the suit’s supporters are state senators. Sherry Echols and Beau Hatchet – Moore, who was expelled from the Republican Senate caucus this month, has been repeatedly targeted on social media. “What is most concerning to me is the selective prosecution,” Hatchett said.
Credit: Ben Gray of AJC
Credit: Ben Gray of AJC
“She is choosing politically motivated cases to pursue, while simultaneously ignoring a huge backlog that is unsustainable and dangerous,” Hatchett said. “She appears to have neglected her duties as a prosecutor while focusing on several politically motivated cases.”
The other Republicans who joined in the complaint are state senators. clint dixon, Russ Goodman, chuck payne and Sam Watson.
Dixon told the AJC that he organized the charges against Willis “to hold her accountable to ensure that public safety always comes before politics.”
“Instead of doing his job of giving everyone their day in court, Willis decided to take center stage in political theater.” “Instead of prosecuting people who are accused of murder, rape, and other crimes, she is trying to raise her profile and her reputation.”
The three-page complaint was filed shortly after a Fulton County judge rejected a challenge from a bipartisan group of district attorneys that sought to block the law from taking effect Oct. 1.
In a six-page order, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker wrote that the plaintiffs could not show that freezing the law’s effect would prevent “immediate and irreparable harm.” It was ruled that there was no.
The legal challenge was brought by four district attorneys, three Democrats and one Republican, who called the law an unconstitutional power grab and said they had no control over which cases to pursue in the public domain. They see it as a threat to their ability to choose how to discuss strategy in the forum. They have vowed to appeal the case to the state Supreme Court.
known as Senate Bill 92the legislation was approved by the General Assembly along party lines earlier this year after Kemp put the bill at the top of his policy agenda shortly after winning re-election.
He said he would punish “far-left prosecutors” whom he accused of undermining public safety, including the district attorney in his hometown of Athens-Clarke County, who was elected on a platform that prioritized violent crimes over minor drug offenses. I swore.
The law is part of a nationwide Republican-led effort to paint liberal prosecutors as “rogues” because they refuse to crack down on low-level drug crimes, anti-abortion regulations and other tough crimes.
The law authorizes the commission to sanction or remove district attorneys for a variety of reasons, including “willful misconduct” and “continued failure to comply with the law.” Kemp and Republican legislative leaders appointed members of the committee this year, and the committee recently posted a job posting for a full-time director.
Still, the commission is unlikely to impose sanctions anytime soon. A set of rules and regulations still needs to be developed before complaints can be considered. Commission members also noted that the commission cannot discipline prosecutors until the Georgia Supreme Court approves the rules.
Gooch, the Senate Republican leader, said he was still exploring other options for reprimanding Willis, including a possible congressional hearing that would scrutinize Willis’ use of public resources. “This complaint is just one tool at our disposal, and we will not relent until she sees the consequences of her misplaced priorities,” Gooch said.
