Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, is asking the Supreme Court to transfer his Georgia election case to a federal court.
Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance wrote on Sunday that if Meadows is granted the transfer, the Supreme Court may then be able to “extend the coattails” of Donald Trump’s presidential immunity to Meadows and some of the other accused in the Georgia election fraud case.
On July 1, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump enjoys broad immunity from prosecution and that his presidential acts can’t be used as evidence if indicting him for personal acts. That has delayed his Georgia case, as prosecutors grapple with the consequences of the ruling.
Mark Meadows poses for his booking photo on August 24, 2023, in Atlanta, Georgia. Donald Trump and 18 others faced felony charges in the indictment related to tampering with the 2020 election in Georgia.
Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via Getty Images
Writing in her Civil Discourse legal blog, Vance noted that the Supreme Court case could have major repercussions in Georgia.
“If the Supreme Court agrees to take this case, it will be a major one, offering the possibility, if the Court is so inclined, that it might extend coattails from last term’s grant of broad presidential immunity to Donald Trump to his coconspirators,” she wrote.
The state of Georgia was due to get its response to Meadows’ Supreme Court petition on Monday. The court has granted it an extension until Thursday because of the damage caused by Hurricane Helene.
Meadows is asking the Supreme Court to transfer his case because, as Trump’s White House chief of staff, he was a federal officer and should therefore be tried in a federal court.
Newsweek sought email comment on Monday from attorneys for Meadows and Trump.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat, indicted Trump, Meadows and 17 others for allegedly seeking to interfere with the election results in Georgia, a swing state that narrowly backed President Joe Biden in 2020. Her case focused on Trump’s contact with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, as well as an alleged plot to submit a false slate of pro-Trump electors to the Electoral College. Trump and Meadows have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
With Meadows beside him, Trump made a call to Raffensperger on January 2, 2021, in which he asked Raffensperger to “find” enough votes for Trump to win in Georgia.
The line between what belongs in a Georgia state court and what belongs in federal court is still being decided in the case.
Trump scored a major victory in September when trial judge Scott McAfee ruled that two of the charges against Trump should be dismissed because they don’t belong in state court.
McAfee wrote that the charges were “beyond the state jurisdiction and must be quashed.” Those charges are the filing of false documents and conspiring to file false documents, relating to Trump’s alleged attempts to put forward alternate electors to falsely verify his election victory in Georgia.
However, he refused to remove a racketeering charge, one of the most serious on the indictment and one normally reserved for organized crime figures.
That count is supported by 161 alleged acts that Trump and the co-defendants are accused of committing to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
