Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows‘ request for an emergency stay in Georgia was rejected, according to a new court filing Wednesday.
Driving the news: Meadows, one of former President Trump’s 18 co-defendants in the sweeping 2020 election interference case, filed the emergency request on Monday after a judge denied a prior request to move the case to federal court.
- A stay request is for a court to stop or suspend a proceeding or trial, according to Cornell’s Legal Information Institute.
What’s happening: Meadows is charged with violating Georgia’s racketeering law, or RICO, and soliciting the violation of oath by a public officer as part of a broader effort to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.
- Meadows argued that he should be shielded from state charges because his actions were in his capacity as Trump’s chief of staff and part of his federal duties, but U.S. District Judge Steve Jones rebuked this claim.
- “The Court acknowledges that there is a public interest in protecting federal officers from state interference under the Supremacy Clause,” Jones wrote in Wednesday’s court filing.
- “The Court, however, has already determined that Meadows failed to show he is entitled to federal removal under the federal officer statute because he was not acting in the scope of his federal office at the time of the acts alleged.”
Zoom out: All 19 defendants in the 2020 election interference case have pleaded not guilty to charges filed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
- Trump has said he “may” ask to move his case to federal court, but the rejection of Meadow’s request may indicate how the judge will respond if the former president does so.
Source: Axios
