Georgia Appeals Court Halts Trump Election Case

Former President and Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump at Trump Tower on May 31, 2024 in New York City. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

The Georgia Court of Appeals ordered on June 5 a stay on all proceedings in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s case against former President Donald Trump and eight codefendants, challenging the district attorney’s ability to prosecute the case.

“The proceedings below in the Superior Court of Fulton County are hereby stayed pending the outcome of these appeals,”  reads an order by the court clerk, citing a Georgia Supreme Court case ordering the stay of criminal case proceedings during an interlocutory review.

This comes as the court has agreed to review whether Ms. Willis should be disqualified.

The appeals court on June 4 set a hearing in October for former President Donald Trump’s appeal of a Fulton County judge’s decision not to disqualify prosecutor Ms. Willis.

The defendants were notified to file their brief by June 23, and the district attorney has 20 days after that to file a reply brief. Oral arguments will take place before a three-judge panel.

Ms. Willis has charged the defendants with violating the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act through their actions to challenge the 2020 presidential election results. Earlier this year, defendant Michael Roman moved to disqualify the district attorney alleging a conflict of interest and financial misconduct, and codefendants joined with additional allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.

The initial Jan. 8 motion set off a chain of investigations into the district attorney’s office, and after the February evidentiary hearing the election case was clouded by the revelation of Ms. Willis’s affair with her hired prosecutor and alleged financial misconduct.

In March, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled that while there was an appearance of impropriety, disqualification was not necessary. However, he acknowledged he was in novel legal territory and allowed defendants to appeal his decision to a higher court. The appeals court agreed to review the ruling last month.

While the trial court judge had ruled that he could continue to hear motions and issue rulings in the interim, that will now come to a stop.

Whether Ms. Willis and her office remain on the case is likely the deciding factor in whether the case will be tried at all.

Trump Cases on Hold

President Trump was indicted four times last year, with most of the cases setting trial dates for this spring.

On May 30, he became the first former president in American history to be criminally convicted after a 12-member jury in New York City returned a unanimous guilty verdict.

With the Georgia Appeals Court decision, the remaining cases are not expected to head to trial anytime this year.

In the District of Columbia, special counsel Jack Smith is prosecuting President Trump for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021. That case has been on hold since late last year, and cannot move forward until the Supreme Court issues a decision on President Trump’s presidential immunity defense. Many have predicted that, after a mid-summer decision, the case will be sent back to the trial court to hash out evidentiary issues that may trim down the case.

Mr. Smith is also prosecuting a case against President Trump in the Southern District of Florida for allegedly mishandling classified documents.

Last month, Judge Aileen Cannon vacated the original May 20 trial date and declined to set a new one, citing the several substantive motions and voluminous discovery issues needing resolution.

This week, Judge Cannon reset the case schedule to tackle major issues raised by the defense this month while pushing back the discovery issues that have loomed over the case since the beginning.

The judge is set to issue rulings on several motions to dismiss, all of which provide more grounds for either party to appeal to a higher court, which may once again reset the case schedule.