Aziz Huq Writes About Removal in the Georgia Case Against Trump
Why the Georgia Court Will Keep the Trump Case—and Why It Shouldn’t
The first skirmish of the Georgia prosecution erupted on Wednesday, August 16 when former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows asked for his case to be moved to federal court: Former President Trump likely will follow suit soon.
Both hope that by shifting to federal court, they will get more favorable jury pools pulling from outside metro Atlanta. But both could argue that there’s a bigger principle at stake. Imagine if every time a new president took office, an elected state prosecutor of the other party drummed up a grand-jury indictment alleging campaign-finance or financial wrongdoing. With 50 states and countless counties and municipalities, it’s easy to imagine the churning chaos that could follow. Far better, therefore, to channel all such cases into federal court, where lifetime judicial appointees sensitive to national interests would manage those cases in an orderly way.
It's a powerful argument, especially for Trump. But until Congress changes the rules for moving cases from state to federal court, it offers no lawful ground for changing courthouses: Trump’s case should, as a matter of law, stay in the Fulton County Courthouse—even when it might be better for the nation for a federal court to handle it.
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