Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has asked the Supreme Court to move his Georgia election interference case to federal court, citing the high court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.
“It is hard to imagine a case in which the need for a federal forum is more pressing than one that requires resolving novel questions about the duties and powers of one of the most important federal offices in the Nation,” Meadows’ lawyers wrote in a petition to the Supreme Court dated Friday.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year rejected Meadows’ bid to move his Georgia case to a federal court, saying he failed to show that his actions at the heart of the indictment were part of his official White House duties.
In their petition to the Supreme Court, Meadows’ lawyers argue that the appellate decision was “egregiously wrong, wholly unprecedented, and exceptionally dangerous,” arguing that the high court's ruling this month on former President Donald Trump's immunity for official acts is grounds for the court to intervene in Meadows' Georgia case.
“That decision makes clear that federal immunity fully protects former officers, often requires difficult and fact-intensive judgment calls at the margins, and provides not just a substantive immunity but a use immunity that protects against the use of official acts to try to hold a current or former federal officer liable for unofficial acts,” they wrote. “All of those sensitive disputes plainly belong in federal court.”
Trump, Meadows and 17 other defendants were indicted last year on felony charges in connection with alleged schemes to overturn Trump’s loss in Georgia in the 2020 election.
Meadows faces two counts in the 41-count indictment: violating the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer. He has pleaded not guilty.
