Court of Appeals to consider DA Fani Willis removal in Trump Georgia election case

ATLANTA — The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday decided to hear an appeal of a judge’s ruling allowing District Attorney Fani Willis to remain at the helm of Fulton County’s election interference case against former President Donald Trump.

The court’s decision almost certainly means a significant delay of a trial here for Trump and his 14 co-defendants and signals that Willis could still be disqualified from the case, the biggest in her career and one she spent years assembling. It is unclear how long the busy appeals court will take to decide the issue but it could stretch into 2025.

“There’s no way this case gets to trial this year,” said Atlanta defense attorney Andrew Fleischman, who is closing following the case. “I would expect the appeals court to issue its opinion some time next year.”

On March 29, Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee issued a “certificate of immediate review,” which allowed the defendants to appeal his ruling to the Georgia Court of Appeals before a trial begins.

Under appeals court rules, such a pretrial — or interlocutory — appeal is typically assigned to a three-judge screening panel. And all it takes is for one of those judges to decide whether the court accepts the appeal. The court’s one-page order did not divulge which judge voted to grant the application. It gave the defense 10 days to file its formal notice of appeal.

In his order granting the pretrial review, McAfee said he will continue working on the case, resolving pending motions, while the appeals court takes up the removal issue. It is possible Trump or his co-defendants could seek a stay from the appeals court barring McAfee from moving forward with his work on the case until the appeal is resolved.

Eight defendants, including Trump, requested permission to appeal a few days after McAfee effectively denied a motion to disqualify Willis due to her romantic relationship with then-special prosecutor Nathan Wade.

While McAfee ruled that Willis did not have an actual conflict of interest that warranted her removal, he said there was an appearance of a conflict that required her to make a choice. Willis could either recuse herself and her office from the case or cut ties with Wade, McAfee said. Within hours, Wade had tendered his resignation.