The Georgia prosecutor who indicted Trump, Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis, is being targeted by the GOP for removal under a new law.
A little over a week after a prosecutor in Georgia indicted former President Donald Trump for trying to overturn the results of the state’s 2020 presidential election, Republicans said they will use a new law to remove her from office.
In May, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed the law that created a new commission of political appointees with the power to remove and discipline elected prosecutors over decisions or policies not to prosecute certain offenses. The law seeks to limit or restrict reform-minded prosecutors. In the case of Fulton County — which includes Atlanta — though, District Attorney Fani Willis is not even known as much of a reformer. Instead, Republican lawmakers set their sights on Willis for another reason: prosecuting the wrong person.
We already know from Pudding Rob's actions in Florida that these kind of laws are going to be used to:
Allow the executive or legislative branches to override the judiciary, thereby functionally eliminating the separation of powers
Override democracy by removing duly elected officials at the sole discretion of one person (Florida), or by another unelected body (Georgia)
Create a legal fiefdom where the executive or legislative branches can determine the outcome of judicial matters through sheer fiat by removing prosecutors who do not align with their intended outcomes, and then hand selecting those who do
Law and order is, and was always, just another tool in their arsenal to be used against their opponents. It has never been about fairness or justice to them.
Now now, it's more general than that. In between shooting black people, they also love to use their laws on other things they don't like, such as other people's abortions (not their own, mind you -- that's different), LGBT people, and immigrants (especially scary turban men).
They can't even start accepting complaints under this new law until next July, then it's a complicated process with two different panels of former prosecutors/judges, a number of whom are appointed by the not-particuarly-pro-Trump governor. It'll definitely be used to punish prosecutors for not prosecuting drug/abortion/etc crimes the way they want them to, but it's going to be too slow + indifferent + late to affect Willis.
Of course they are. I love how Trump and the GOP claim to be innoncent….yet they try and stop the prosecution. If you are innocent, just present the evidence.
Can't really prove you didn't do something. The trick is to not make evidence showing you did do something. The easiest way to avoid that is by not breaking the law.
I don't know that they have the votes to actually do this, even if one guy on a Facebook post said he wanted to.
If they did do it, the real question is how this duly elected official gets replaced. If it's a special election I'd disagree with them doing it but at least the voters get representation. If it's an appointment by the GovernornI think there are actual constitutional issues with the law since it denies the constituents the ability to elect their own DA...but that would also put a Republican in charge of the case so it seems plausible they would write it that way.
GOP is grasping at straws in Tennessee too, for all to see. Justin Pearson, previously censured, posts reels of every nefarious act they try. It bears watching and supporting.
This doesn't mean that the trial can be shitcanned, does it?
If Fani Willis can't escape this and it means she burned her career to do the right thing, somebody oughtta crowdfund a bunch of money for her so she has some cushioning.
If she's replaced by the governor, yeah they could drop the case. I just doubt they'd be able to replace her without a court case all on it's own. For one it sounds like an unconstitutional bill of attainder.
Not the trial per se, the prosecutor. Her replacement could then withdraw the case.
The does not happen until July though and, by then, there will be a shitload of evidence before the judge and jury. They will have likely convicted Chesebro and Powell by then on many of the same “participant in a criminal conspiracy” charges under the direction of Donald Trump.
The article isn't very clear, but I think it would just remove her from her position. So it probably wouldn't ruin her career. If anything, I feel like plenty of law firms would love an experienced prosecutor who has the guts to oppose the madness that is the alt right.
Yeah that's a fair point. I guess the second half of my response was a bit of kneejerk reaction. I was more curious about what kind of effect this could have on the Trump & Co. trial. I assume the amount of time they'd need to get started removing her pretty much guarantees nothing happens.
These asshats couldn't be more transparent, cartoon-villanish characters if they tried. Fuck them in the neck with a screwdriver. Voting for these assholes is a vote for dismantling democracy.