Georgia Supreme Court Declines Willis's Disqualification Appeal
Published by The Lawfare Institute
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On Sept. 16, 2025, the Georgia Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a lower court decision that disqualified the Fulton County District Attorney, Fani Willis, from prosecuting the 2020 election interference case against Donald Trump and 14 other defendants.
The Georgia Court of Appeals previously ruled that Willis could not continue prosecuting the case, citing an “appearance of impropriety” surrounding the district attorney’s romantic relationship with her special prosecutor, Nathan Wade. In January, Willis asked the state’s Supreme Court to review that ruling.
In a 4-3 ruling, the state’s high court declined to take up Willis’s appeal. Justice Andrew Pinson authored a concurring opinion on behalf of himself and two justices in the majority. Pinson, who was appointed to the court by Georgia’s Republican governor, said that the appeal presented a “narrow, case-specific dispute” that did not warrant intervention by the high court.
In a dissenting opinion joined by two other judges, Justice Carla Wong McMillian wrote that she would have granted Willis’s request to review the ruling because the legal issue presented on appeal—whether an attorney can be disqualified based on the appearance of impropriety alone—affects “every single active lawyer in the State of Georgia.”
The Georgia Supreme Court’s refusal to intervene leaves Willis’s disqualification in place—and ensures that the prosecution won’t move forward soon, if ever. A state agency, the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, is now responsible for appointing a new prosecutor to replace Willis. That prosecutor could decide to continue the prosecution or dismiss the charges altogether.
You can read the decision here or below:
