An appeals court on Monday denied former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’s bid to move his election-interference case from Georgia state court to federal court.
Former president Donald Trump, Meadows, and 17 other defendants were indicted by Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis (D., Ga.) in August for allegedly interfering in the 2020 presidential election after Trump lost. All 19 defendants were accused of running a criminal enterprise conspiring to undo the election results, violating the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
A three-judge panel on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals delivered its unanimous opinion three days after oral arguments were made.
Meadows argued the case against him should be moved to federal court because it involves racketeering crimes he allegedly committed while serving in the Trump administration. Chief judge William Pryor Jr., who was appointed by former president George W. Bush in 2004, ultimately rejected Meadows’s appeal, ruling that former federal officials are ineligible to move their charges elsewhere.
“After a Fulton County grand jury indicted Meadows for conspiring to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, Meadows filed a notice to remove the action to the Northern District of Georgia,” Pryor wrote. “The district court held an evidentiary hearing and then remanded because Meadows’s charged conduct was not performed under color of his federal office. Because federal-officer removal under section 1442(a)(1) does not apply to former federal officers, and even if it did, the events giving rise to this criminal action were not related to Meadows’s official duties, we affirm.”
Meadows previously tried to transfer the Trump RICO case to federal court, but those attempts were also rejected. The appeals court affirmed a federal judge’s ruling that Meadows is unable to move his charges because the alleged crimes he committed are not explicitly included in his official capacity as Trump’s chief of staff.
“Simply put, whatever the precise contours of Meadows’s official authority, that authority did not extend to an alleged conspiracy to overturn valid election results,” Pryor added.
All defendants, including Trump and Meadows, pleaded not guilty shortly after the indictment. Four of them, however, have pleaded guilty since then. Lawyers Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, and bail bondsman Scott Hall all made deals with prosecutors to lessen their sentences.
It’s possible Meadows could appeal the latest ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.