The Georgia prosecutor who indicted Trump, Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis, is being targeted by the GOP for removal under a new law.

A little over a week after a prosecutor in Georgia indicted former President Donald Trump for trying to overturn the results of the state’s 2020 presidential election, Republicans said they will use a new law to remove her from office.

In May, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed the law that created a new commission of political appointees with the power to remove and discipline elected prosecutors over decisions or policies not to prosecute certain offenses. The law seeks to limit or restrict reform-minded prosecutors. In the case of Fulton County — which includes Atlanta — though, District Attorney Fani Willis is not even known as much of a reformer. Instead, Republican lawmakers set their sights on Willis for another reason: prosecuting the wrong person.

    • agent_flounder@lemmy.oneEnglish
      56·
      1 year ago

      Yes they are. Kemp seems to have had all sorts of tricks up his sleeve to suppress voters. This “no you can’t prosecute our people” committee is no great surprise to me.

      The GOP will stop at nothing to ensure they can do whatever the fuck they want. Across the board in every way they can imagine they threaten to further degrade and eventually destroy democracy. For them, Russia is a model of what they’re going for.

    • RegularGoose@sh.itjust.works
      82·
      1 year ago

      We are playing Mafia now?

      Were we ever not? All through world history, political parties have only ever been competing mafias of one sort or another.

  • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
    1772·
    1 year ago

    We already know from Pudding Rob’s actions in Florida that these kind of laws are going to be used to:

    • Allow the executive or legislative branches to override the judiciary, thereby functionally eliminating the separation of powers

    • Override democracy by removing duly elected officials at the sole discretion of one person (Florida), or by another unelected body (Georgia)

    • Create a legal fiefdom where the executive or legislative branches can determine the outcome of judicial matters through sheer fiat by removing prosecutors who do not align with their intended outcomes, and then hand selecting those who do

    Party of “Law and Order” my fucking ass…

            • be_excellent_to_each_other@kbin.social
              2·
              1 year ago

              Coincidentally, they also like to make sure black people are poor.

              I seriously don’t understand the folks who don’t get this.

              First we had slaves.

              Well, they say, US slavery ended with the civil war.

              Even IF it were reasonable to say that slavery ended, and therefore the ripples it sent forward in time aren’t still being felt, there are two things that are true - One: We didn’t root out those who most staunchly refused to relinquish it and enact power structures to encourage equity going forward.

              Well, they say, the confederate states were physically and economically destroyed by the end of the war.

              And to that I say, “Andrew Johnson.”

              Two: We as a nation enacted laws and social norms that turned black folks into a permanent underclass, and have been dogwhistling about it for a century.

              Well, they say, No we didn’t.

              Yes, we did. Jim Crow, separate but equal, the origin of most controversial confederate monuments and statues, the very existence of Sundown Towns, and The Negro Motorist’s Green Book, the foundation of the State of Oregon, and events such as the Tulsa race massacre, are all factual details about our country.

              These inflection points on our nation’s psyche persisted at least through the passage of the civil rights act, and some feel Sundown Towns exist even today. These laws and social norms influenced legislative policy, police and justice department culture, and generations of Americans both white and black people.

              How one can acknowledge all that and not be impressed at the degree to which African-Americans have succeeded, and also humbled by how they have been wronged, held back, and live to this day in a system founded on excluding them is beyond me. But more importantly than that, to deny that there is still an impact seems willfully ignorant.

              Sorry for the rant. I didn’t set out to write it, but there it is.

      • StarServal@kbin.social
        9·
        1 year ago

        Law and order is, and was always, just another tool in their arsenal to be used against their opponents. It has never been about fairness or justice to them.

      • CoderKat@lemm.eeEnglish
        3·
        1 year ago

        Now now, it’s more general than that. In between shooting black people, they also love to use their laws on other things they don’t like, such as other people’s abortions (not their own, mind you – that’s different), LGBT people, and immigrants (especially scary turban men).

    • Fredselfish@lemmy.world
      12·
      1 year ago

      And that governor is responsible for that law. Kemp fucked us.

      They will remove her probably try get her charged and then work to have someone who will make this case go away.

      If this happens and the people of Georgia or hell all of us to rise up and put stop to it.

      Then might as well hand the country over to the fascist because that would have won.

      This must not be allowed. But I knew the GOP would find away to protect Trump.

  • Ertebolle@kbin.social
    79·
    1 year ago

    They can’t even start accepting complaints under this new law until next July, then it’s a complicated process with two different panels of former prosecutors/judges, a number of whom are appointed by the not-particuarly-pro-Trump governor. It’ll definitely be used to punish prosecutors for not prosecuting drug/abortion/etc crimes the way they want them to, but it’s going to be too slow + indifferent + late to affect Willis.

  • donnager@lemmy.world
    48·
    1 year ago

    Of course they are. I love how Trump and the GOP claim to be innoncent….yet they try and stop the prosecution. If you are innocent, just present the evidence.

    • jtk@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Can’t really prove you didn’t do something. The trick is to not make evidence showing you did do something. The easiest way to avoid that is by not breaking the law.

  • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
    23·
    1 year ago

    I don’t know that they have the votes to actually do this, even if one guy on a Facebook post said he wanted to.

    If they did do it, the real question is how this duly elected official gets replaced. If it’s a special election I’d disagree with them doing it but at least the voters get representation. If it’s an appointment by the GovernornI think there are actual constitutional issues with the law since it denies the constituents the ability to elect their own DA…but that would also put a Republican in charge of the case so it seems plausible they would write it that way.

    • PeleSpirit@lemmy.worldEnglish
      18·
      1 year ago

      Ron Desantis is running like a bulldozer over Florida, I hope the federal government would step in. They seem to be trying to take a hands off approach and letting it sort out. I’m not sure that’s a great approach as we watch our states get taken over by fascists. This happened after the civil war so I guess there’s a chance we can get it back? That took a long time though.

      • TwoGems@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        1 year ago

        My God we’d better vote and win 2024 like never before or this coup is never gonna stop.

      • agent_flounder@lemmy.oneEnglish
        4·
        1 year ago

        Thing is, federal govt can’t just waltz in and take over state govt. That’s now how it works. And probably with good reason. Imagine if the GOP could take over at the federal level and force states like Colorado to ban abortion (which yes wouldn’t be a problem if we had codified abortion protection into law at the federal level and also hadn’t had GOP denying Obama a SCOTUS appointment ), or banning same sex marriage or myriad other things.

  • HubertManne@kbin.social
    17·
    1 year ago

    Thats right Georgia. Republicans have told you who to vote for if you want your independence and freedom. Michigan just recently realized this.

  • JoJoGAH@lemmy.world
    13·
    1 year ago

    GOP is grasping at straws in Tennessee too, for all to see. Justin Pearson, previously censured, posts reels of every nefarious act they try. It bears watching and supporting.

  • _bug0ut@lemmy.world
    132·
    1 year ago

    This doesn’t mean that the trial can be shitcanned, does it?

    If Fani Willis can’t escape this and it means she burned her career to do the right thing, somebody oughtta crowdfund a bunch of money for her so she has some cushioning.

    • roguetrick@kbin.social
      181·
      1 year ago

      If she’s replaced by the governor, yeah they could drop the case. I just doubt they’d be able to replace her without a court case all on it’s own. For one it sounds like an unconstitutional bill of attainder.

      • _bug0ut@lemmy.world
        3·
        1 year ago

        For one it sounds like an unconstitutional bill of attainder.

        Furthest thing from a lawyer over here, but wouldn’t this require them to prosecute her criminally vs. just removing her from her job?

        • roguetrick@kbin.social
          4·
          1 year ago

          You’re likely right that it doesn’t apply, but I think it only needs to be something that could be consider a punishment and would be normally handled judicially. Since this would be handled by impeachment I figure it’s not. I’m far from a lawyer myself.

    • LeFantome@programming.dev
      3·
      1 year ago

      Not the trial per se, the prosecutor. Her replacement could then withdraw the case.

      The does not happen until July though and, by then, there will be a shitload of evidence before the judge and jury. They will have likely convicted Chesebro and Powell by then on many of the same “participant in a criminal conspiracy” charges under the direction of Donald Trump.

      So, pretty awkward to shut it down.

    • CoderKat@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      The article isn’t very clear, but I think it would just remove her from her position. So it probably wouldn’t ruin her career. If anything, I feel like plenty of law firms would love an experienced prosecutor who has the guts to oppose the madness that is the alt right.

      • _bug0ut@lemmy.world
        1·
        1 year ago

        Yeah that’s a fair point. I guess the second half of my response was a bit of kneejerk reaction. I was more curious about what kind of effect this could have on the Trump & Co. trial. I assume the amount of time they’d need to get started removing her pretty much guarantees nothing happens.

  • Railing5132@lemmy.world
    4·
    1 year ago

    These asshats couldn’t be more transparent, cartoon-villanish characters if they tried. Fuck them in the neck with a screwdriver. Voting for these assholes is a vote for dismantling democracy.

  • SIGSEGV@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    LOL! Well, I guess they’re actively looking to get killed. What, you think we’ll turn a blind eye to this shit, you hitler-esuqe dirtbags?