ACLJ Files Amicus Brief Calling for Fani Willis’ Disqualification

The ACLJ has just filed a crucial amicus brief in the Georgia Court of Appeals, calling for Fani Willis to be disqualified from her political prosecution of President Trump based on the “odor of mendacity” surrounding her and her office’s misconduct and her inherent conflict of interest.

We shared with you before the previous amicus brief we filed, urging the Georgia Court of Appeals to review Fani Willis’ conduct before it is too late. Now that the court has agreed to take the case, we have filed another crucial amicus brief, urging the court to make the right decision and disqualify Fani Willis based on her gross misconduct.

As we told you when the trial judge’s decision on Fani Willis first came out, the judge’s ruling made simply no sense. The judge found as fact that Fani Willis’ conduct had an “appearance of impropriety,” based on her relationship with Nathan Wade. Nonetheless, the judge allowed Willis to proceed with the prosecution anyway. The facts are clear that Willis must be disqualified from overseeing the high-profile election interference case against President Trump.

Let’s review the facts:

1. Willis appointed her alleged romantic partner, Nathan Wade, as special prosecutor – paying him over $650,000 in taxpayer money.
2. She appears to have benefited personally from this appointment, taking lavish vacations funded by Wade’s earnings from the case.
3. Willis and Wade seemingly attempted to conceal their relationship, only admitting to it after being cornered by evidence.

This reeks of corruption, cronyism, and abuse of power at the highest levels of the Fulton County DA’s office. How can the people of Georgia – or indeed, all Americans – have any faith in the integrity and impartiality of this prosecution? The Constitution guarantees the right to a fair trial, free from conflicts of interest or impropriety. Willis’ actions have irreparably tainted this case.

We filed a crucial amicus brief today, highlighting that the mere appearance of such misconduct is sufficient grounds for disqualification under Georgia law and ethical standards. We emphasized that even an appearance of impropriety is inherently unacceptable and erodes the public’s trust in the judicial process. In the present case, merely stopping the continuation of the “repeatedly”-made “bad choices” by removing Nathan Wade is not enough. Nor is the removal of some of the conflict. The law deserves – and requires – more than that. It requires disqualification of all conflicted parties.

We emphasized in our brief :

The existence of a conflict of interest, including an apparent conflict, is an issue of such structural magnitude that it affects the entirety of a criminal proceeding. A conflicted prosecutor who nonetheless proceeds with prosecution casts an “odor of mendacity” over an entire proceeding that cannot be corrected or remedied after the fact. Beyond its unconstitutionally injurious impact on the Defendants, the odor negatively impacts the public’s perception of and confidence in the judicial system—especially when the prosecution is that of a leading national candidate for the highest office in the land.

The bad choices, prejudices, and personal political motivations of Fulton County’s District Attorney, and the Georgia judiciary’s response, impact the entire nation. The integrity of our criminal justice system – implicating its prosecutors and its courts – is at stake. Your vote is at stake. And at the heart of this matter and the numerous political prosecutions ongoing against conservatives, our constitutional republic is at stake. You can join our efforts to remove Willis by signing our petition here.