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The fight to protect Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from right-wing lawmakers in Georgia is underway.
Earlier this year, I wrote about Senate Bill 92, a law passed by Georgia Republicans that could allow them to oust Willis. The law establishes a commission, appointed by the governor and other state officials, to discipline or remove any elected prosecutors.
Donald Trump, who’s facing criminal charges in a racketeering indictment handed down by the district attorney's office, has encouraged Georgia Republicans to impeach Willis. At least one Georgia Republican has taken steps to do so. And another has said he would file a complaint against Willis for investigating Trump, which could lead to her removal under S.B. 92.
That is, unless the effort is stalled by a court.
On Thursday, the Public Rights Project, a civil rights nonprofit organization supporting a bipartisan group of Georgia prosecutors currently suing to stop S.B. 92 from taking effect, filed a preliminary injunction asking a judge to stop the state's commission from "opening any investigations or taking any steps to discipline” prosecutors until a court rules on the law’s legality.
In their court filing, the Public Rights Project wrote:
SB 92 is an unprecedented intrusion into the power and authority of district attorney protected by the Georgia Constitution, and poses an imminent threat to Plaintiffs and their offices, the administration of the criminal justice system, the rights of defendants in criminal proceedings, and the will of voters who have duly elected prosecutors throughout the state.
Jill Habig, the founder of the Public Rights Project, told me Friday that time is of the essence when it comes to pushing back against S.B. 92 and the commission it created.
“As our filing indicates, and there are already Georgia officials promising to use this commission to file complaints against Fani Willis and attempt to initiate discipline or removal proceedings against her,” Habig said, adding that “part of our problem with the commission from a legal and constitutional perspective is it is very vague about the criteria and process by which the commission could initiate these proceedings.”
The Public Rights Project wants a court to “stop the commission from starting its work,” Habig said. She said the "arbitrary nature of the criteria” the commission could use to remove a prosecutor makes S.B. 92 unlawful.
She highlighted a portion of the law authorizing the removal of a prosecutor for “conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, which brings the office into disrepute.”
And it’s easy to see how a Republican-led legislature might take liberties in determining what “disrepute” means.
Conservative efforts to undemocratically oust prosecutors they dislike aren't confined to Georgia, and neither is the Public Rights Project's work on this issue.
In addition to prosecutors in Georgia, the organization has also provided legal support to Andrew Warren, one of two Florida prosecutors suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis as part of his crusade against liberal lawyers.
Watch Warren and Monique Worrell, the second prosecutor DeSantis targeted, discuss conservative attacks on independent prosecutors during their joint appearance on "The ReidOut" earlier this week in the clip below.
The right-wing assault on independent prosecutions is in full swing. That's important to remember as you hear Republicans complain about the legal system being weaponized against them.