Startling development in GA vis-à-vis the outcome of the
Special Grand Jury results to the Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis here
from NEWSWEEK with this headline:
“Donald Trump Receives Huge
Boost in Criminal Investigation Against Him”
Trump praised
Georgia Republicans after
they were able to push through a bill (it passed late today) that would target “rogue
prosecutors” just as Fulton County DA Fani Willis considers bringing forward
criminal charges over the 2020 presidential elections against the former
president.
Full story contents (formatted to fit the blog):
Willis has noted the timing of the bills as her investigation into
Trump draws to a close her quote seen above to the NY Times: “For the hundreds
of years we've had prosecutors, this has been unnecessary. But now all of a
sudden this is a priority. And it is racist.”
Trump has frequently accused Willis, who is Black, of being “racist”
towards him with her “witch hunt” of an inquiry. The former
president repeated the accusation in a post on his Truth Social page Sunday March 5 noting Wills’ objections to the two
pending bills.
Trump specifically wrote in the TRUTH Social page extract also seen above: “The Racist District Attorney in Atlanta, Fani T. Willis, one of the most dangerous and corrupt cities in the U.S., is now calling the Georgia Legislature, of course, RACIST, because they want to make it easier to remove and replace local rogue prosecutors who are incompetent, racist, or unable to properly do their job. This is a great development for GA and also other parts of the Country. Congratulations to the Georgia Legislature for having the courage to act boldly, fairly, and fast.”
Willis suggested it is not a coincidence that the bills are
being debated after Georgians elected 14 minority district attorneys into
office in 2020 with herself being elected by 72% of the voters.
Ms. Willis told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “It's targeting me, and maybe people with similar ideologies, and wanting to replace it for ideologies that don't represent the majority of the state's population. It seems to me that what they're really saying is that there should be local control until we don't like who the locals choose.”
Republicans have denied there are any racial motivations for
bringing in the bills to discipline prosecutors in Georgia.
State Senator Randy Robertson (R) who introduced the bill said: “The bill aims to target somebody who says they can choose, not based on evidence, but on how they feel about their political leanings, who they can prosecute.”
State Senator Bill Cowsert (R), and the brother-in-law of Georgia
Governor Brian Kemp, who has indicated he will sign SB-92 into law,
said during a January bill hearing: “Willis' suggestion the bills have
anything to do with race is absurd, offensive, and a racist statement on its
own.
My 2 Cents: This is certainly a big boost for Trump, or at least on the surface he thinks it is, or will be.
I’m not a lawyer but I think this bill will not pass ex post facto constitutional muster based on this law extract from Cornell Law here: ref: Retroactive Judicial Decisions: At a minimum, ex post facto prohibits legislatures from passing laws which retroactively criminalize behavior. However, this prohibition does not attach as strictly to judicial decisions. Appellate courts sometimes announce a new rule of law, but will not apply it to the case in front of it, in order to attempt to comply with ex post facto prohibitions.
Also, and Generally Speaking: “The Constitution of the United States forbids Congress and the states to pass any ex post facto law. In 1798 it was determined that this prohibition applies only to criminal laws and is not a general restriction on retroactive legislation.”
I note that if Trump is indicted by DA Willis soon, then that would be a criminal indictment. He will not skate based on new GA law described above at least in my opinion.
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