The Supreme Court rejects the attempt to move the Georgia case against former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to let former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows move the election interference case against him in Georgia to federal court, where he would have argued he was immune from prosecution.

The judges did not set out their reasoning in a short order, as is customary. There were no publicly noted dissenting opinions.

Meadows was one of 19 people indicted in Georgia and accused of participating in an illegal scheme to keep then-President Donald Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election. Trump was also indicted, although after winning re-election to a second term last week, a trial seems unlikely, at least as long as he remains in office. Both men have denied wrongdoing.

It’s unclear what effect the election results could have on others charged in the case, which has been largely put on hold after an appeals court agreed to consider whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be fired over her romantic relationship with the special prosecutor whom she had hired to lead. the case.

Meadows had gone to the Supreme Court in an attempt to have the charges thrown out of Georgia’s courts. He argues that the case belongs in federal court because it relates to his duties as a federal official. He pointed to the Supreme Court ruling giving Trump broad immunity from criminal prosecution to support his argument.

“A White House Chief of Staff facing criminal charges based on actions related to his work for the President of the United States should not happen in the nick of time – especially now that this court has recognized that federal immunity affects which evidence can be taken into account, and not merely what conduct may form the basis for liability,” his lawyers wrote.

But prosecutors said Meadows failed to show that he performed official duties during the alleged scheme, including participating in a phone call in which Trump suggested that Georgian Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger could help “find” votes he needed to win the state.

They argued that the case should remain in the Georgia courts, and that Meadows could raise federal defenses there. Prosecutors have also pushed back against claims that the charges could have a ripple effect on other federal officials.

“His references to the overheated words of op-ed articles cannot suffice to demonstrate that a new era of pervasive persecution of former federal officials is imminent,” government lawyers wrote.

A U.S. District Judge and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals both ruled that the case against Meadows and some of his co-defendants should remain in state court. A federal judge has also refused to move an Arizona fake voter case against him to federal court.

Four people have already pleaded guilty in the Georgia election case after reaching agreements with prosecutors. The remaining fifteen, including Trump and Meadows, have pleaded not guilty.