Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been handed a loss in a legal battle to compel her to testify to Republican state lawmakers in Georgia accusing her of misconduct while prosecuting former President Donald Trump.
In an order filed on Monday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram denied on technical grounds an emergency request from Willis to block enforcement of a subpoena to testify before the Georgia state Senate‘s Special Committee on Investigations.
The Republican-controlled committee is investigating Willis over “allegations of misconduct … relating to potential conflicts of interest and misuse of public funds” pertaining to her indictment of Trump and 18 co-defendants on felony election subversion and racketeering charges.
A lawyer for Willis previously said that the district attorney would not comply “until there has been a judicial determination of the validity of the subpoena.” Ingram’s decision to reject the emergency request did not rule on the validity of the subpoena itself.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is pictured at a news conference on the indictment of former President Donald Trump in Atlanta on August 14, 2023. A judge this week rejected an emergency request to block a subpoena of Willis by Georgia’s Republican-controlled state Senate.
CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA/AFP
Instead, the judge argued that the deadline set in the subpoena had already passed, while noting that the committee had “not taken action to enforce” the subpoena and suggesting that Willis had filed the wrong motion.
“This is no longer an emergency,” Ingram wrote. “The Motion is denied as there is no emergency and the proper procedure for challenging a subpoena is a motion to quash.”
The judge also noted that she had the power to block enforcement of a subpoena should the committee seek to enforce it and Willis is able to “demonstrate that doing so would be improper for any reason.”
Newsweek reached out for comment to Willis’ office via email on Tuesday night.
According to the 2023 Georgia Code, failure to comply with a subpoena can result in punishment for contempt of court. If the subpoena is enforced and Willis continues to ignore it, she could be hit with a fine of up to $300, imprisonment up to 20 days, or both.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani previously told Newsweek that while the subpoena could be enforced, “these sorts of legislative subpoenas are generally void because of the separation of powers.”
Willis’ criminal case against Trump is on hold due in part to an appeal of a March decision that allowed her to remain on the case despite allegations of misconduct regarding her relationship with former lead prosecutor Nathan Wade.
A Georgia appeals court is set to hear arguments in December, although a Trump victory in November’s presidential election could result in the case being dismissed entirely.
Trump, who in May was convicted of 34 unrelated felony charges in New York, denies all wrongdoing and claims to be the victim of “weaponization” of the justice system and a “witch hunt” by his political opponents.
The ex-president has also vowed to use the justice system to exact revenge on his opponents, this month promising to hand “long-term prison sentences” to groups that he thinks are responsible for President Joe Biden‘s 2020 election win, including people who donated to Democrats.
