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The Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to let Mark Meadows, who used to be Trump’s chief of staff in the White House, move the election interference case against him from Georgia to federal court. He wanted to argue that he was not guilty and should not be charged.
The justices rejected his appeal and did not explain why they made the decision they did, the Associated Press reported.
Nineteen people were charged in Georgia with taking part in a plot to keep President Trump in office after he lost the 2020 election. Meadows was one of them. Also charged was Trump, but since he was re-elected last week to a second term, it doesn’t look like he will be put on trial while he is still in office. Both men have said they did nothing wrong.
George Terwilliger, Meadows’ lawyer, said that Meadows will keep arguing in state court that he is innocent and that he expects to be found not guilty.
It’s not clear what the election results could mean for other people charged in the case. The case is mostly on hold because an appeals court agreed to look into whether to fire Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis because she was dating the special prosecutor she hired to lead the case.
Meadows went to the Supreme Court to try to get the charges taken out of Georgia courts. He says the case should be heard in federal court since it has to do with his job as a federal officer. He used the Supreme Court’s decision that Trump is not likely to be charged with any crimes to back up his point.
“A White House chief of staff facing criminal charges based on actions relating to his work for the president of the United States should not be a close call—especially now that this court has recognized that federal immunity impacts what evidence can be considered, not just what conduct can form the basis for liability,” his attorneys wrote.
Prosecutors said Meadows didn’t show he was doing his job during the alleged plan. For example, they said he took part in a phone call where Trump suggested that Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state for Georgia, could help him “find” the votes he needed to win the state.
They said the case should stay in Georgian courts so Meadows could use federal arguments there. The prosecutors also fought back against the idea that the charges could affect other government officials.
“His references to the overheated words of opinion editorials cannot suffice to demonstrate that a new era of ubiquitous prosecution of former federal officials is at hand,” government attorneys wrote.
The case against Meadows and some of his co-defendants should stay in state court, according to both a U.S. district judge and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It was also turned down by a federal judge when an Arizona case against him for being a fake elector was brought to federal court.
Four people have already pleaded guilty in the Georgia election case after making deals with the investigators. Trump and Meadows are two of the other 15 who have pleaded not guilty.
Willis’ office is also dealing with another scandal. In June, text messages were produced during a court proceeding that reveal an investigator working for the DA’s office made inappropriate advances on a witness while working on a case.
Trump, 78, and his 13 remaining co-defendants have pleaded not guilty to felony charges accusing them of violating Georgia’s anti-racketeering law in an alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election results in the state, The Post noted.
