'Self-inflicted': Willis loses appeal in quest to lead Fulton County case against Trump

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis attends a hearing on the Georgia election interference case, March 1, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Alex Slitz/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis attends a hearing on the Georgia election interference case, March 1, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Alex Slitz/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Alander Rocha, Alabama Reflector
September 16, 2025 | 07:18PM ETBank

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis remains disqualified from prosecuting President Donald Trump’s election interference case after the Georgia Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal over her removal.

The 4-3 decision issued Tuesday means the state’s highest court will not review the Georgia Court of Appeals’ December ruling that disqualified Willis from prosecuting the case involving Trump and his remaining co-defendants due to a “significant appearance of impropriety,” which stemmed from a romantic relationship she had with a special prosecutor she hired, Nathan Wade.

That decision had tossed aside the trial court’s ruling last spring that there was no “actual conflict of interest” on Willis’ part, but had noted a “financial cloud of impropriety and potential untruthfulness” related to the testimony of certain witnesses. That ruling had allowed Willis to stay on the case after Wade resigned.

A Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and 18 of his allies in August 2023, charging them with illegally conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results after Trump narrowly lost in Georgia. It’s now the last criminal case against Trump still pending.

Justice Andrew Pinson, who wrote the concurring opinion, said Willis’ appeal was too narrowly focused for the Georgia Supreme Court.

“Even if one believes that the Court of Appeals erred in reaching that decision, granting review to answer that question would be mere error correction, and this Court generally does not exercise our certiorari jurisdiction merely to correct errors that do not have some broader impact on Georgia law,” Pinson wrote in the concurring opinion.

Justices Sarah Hawkins Warren, Charlie Bethel and Shawn Ellen LaGrua joined Pinson in the concurring opinion. Justices John Ellington, Carla Wong McMillian and Verda Colvin dissented.

Willis said in a statement she respects the court’s decision and the legal process, despite disagreeing with the outcome, and will work to ensure the prosecutor assigned to the case has access to the case material.

“My office will make the case file and evidence available to the Prosecuting Attorneys Council for use in the ongoing litigation. I hope that whoever is assigned to handle the case will have the courage to do what the evidence and the law demand,” Willis said.

Peter J. Skandalakis, executive director of the nonpartisan Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, said in a statement that while the council will be notified of the Supreme Court’s decision once the case is remitted back to the Fulton County Superior Court, the search for a new prosecutor started immediately.

“PAC will fulfill its duty … to appoint another prosecutor to take over the cases. When that decision is made, it will be announced at the appropriate time. Until then, any action on PAC’s part is premature, and we have no further comments,” Skandalakis said in a statement.

Trump’s return to the White House also adds another complication to the case, with legal experts skeptical that a trial could be held while he is in office. But the case could still proceed in the meantime against the other defendants, like Trump’s former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and ex-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

Pinson wrote that the court’s review is reserved for cases of “gravity or great public importance” and is not for “mere error correction.” He argued that whether a prosecutor can be disqualified based “solely upon an appearance of impropriety” was not directly addressed in the appeal, as Willis had not cross-appealed the trial court’s finding of an appearance of impropriety. The Court of Appeals’ decision was a narrow ruling about the specific solution — Willis’ disqualification — to the admitted problem of impropriety in this case, Pinson wrote, rather than a broad legal issue requiring the Georgia Supreme Court’s opinion.

“Rather than deciding any broader question about whether an appearance of impropriety can serve as an independent ground for disqualification of public prosecutors, the Court of Appeals’ decision appears to have resolved a narrow, case-specific dispute about the trial court’s choice of disqualification remedy,” Pinson wrote.

In a dissenting opinion, McMillian argued that the court should have agreed to review the case. She wrote that the issue of whether an attorney can be disqualified based on the appearance of impropriety alone affects every active lawyer in Georgia. McMillian pointed out that the Court of Appeals’ decisions on this point are in conflict and that Georgia Supreme Court precedent, which the Court of Appeals’ ruling relied upon, warrants reconsideration.

McMillian also raised concerns that a new state law creates a financial incentive for defendants to seek the disqualification of prosecutors, and that the “amorphous” appearance-of-impropriety standard is easy to meet.

Lawmakers passed a measure during the 2025 legislative session that allows criminal defendants to recoup their legal costs if the prosecuting attorney in their case is disqualified for personal or professional misconduct. The proposal’s main sponsor said the bill was inspired by Trump’s case in Fulton County.

“This case requires the resolution of a novel issue of gravity about which the state of the law is confused and conflicted — both in Georgia and across the country — and thus warrants consideration (or reconsideration) by this Court. Moreover, the issue affects the bench and bar across the board and will likely recur such that guidance from this Court is desirable,” McMillian wrote.

Josh McKoon, chair of the Georgia Republican Party, celebrated in a statement, saying that Willis “wasted millions of tax dollars harassing patriotic and law abiding Americans, embarrassing herself and our state, and overwhelming our system of justice with the stench of her mendacity” and called for the United States Attorney, the Attorney General of Georgia and the State Bar of Georgia to open investigation on her conduct.

“But now it is time for a reckoning. She must be held accountable for her actions … This can never be allowed to happen again in our State,” McKoon said.

Attorney General Chris Carr called the Georgia Supreme Court’s decision “the correct one,” saying Willis was disqualified due to a “self-inflicted mistake,” but he did not call for further investigation. He concluded his statement by stating that “‘lawfare’ of any kind cannot stand.”

“When prosecutors use their office to advance a political agenda, the system as a whole suffers,” Carr wrote in an online post.

Trump’s lead attorney Steve Sadow also said in a social media post that the Georgia Supreme Court “correctly denied” reviewing the lower court’s decision.

“Willis’ misconduct during the investigation and prosecution of President Trump was egregious and she deserved nothing less than disqualification. This proper decision should bring an end to the wrongful political, lawfare persecutions of the President,” Sadow wrote.

But Charlie Bailey, chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia, said in a statement that people “deserve full accountability for the election deniers who tried to subvert their votes and silence their voices,” saying that out of the 19 people indicted, four have already pleaded guilty.

“The prosecution of this case must continue so that it can be decided the way all criminal cases must be — according to the evidence and the law,” Bailey said in a statement.