UPDATE (Sept. 16, 2025 1:08 p.m. ET): The Supreme Court of Georgia Tuesday declined to take up Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ appeal that she be allowed to continue prosecuting the state election interference case.
A Georgia appellate court ruled Thursday that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her entire office are disqualified from prosecuting the case that accuses then-President Donald Trump — who lost the 2020 election — of trying to interfere with our state’s election. At issue was a “personal relationship” that the district attorney eventually admitted that she’d had with Nathan Wade, whom she had assigned as a special prosecutor to the case.
Willis’ office filed a notice of its intent to appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. But this case is likely over.
Though the trial court had criticized Willis but allowed her and her office to continue the prosecution, two of the three judges on the three-judge panel wrote Thursday, “After carefully considering the trial court’s findings in its order, we conclude that it erred by failing to disqualify DA Willis and her office.” Later that same day, Willis’ office filed a notice of its intent to appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. But this case is likely over.
As a former assistant district attorney in Fulton County who has dedicated my career to pursuing justice, the decision to disqualify Willis and her entire office from the Trump case strikes me as more than just a legal setback; it’s a profound disappointment for our justice system and the citizens of Fulton County.
Having served as a Fulton County prosecutor and as a prosecutor for the city of Atlanta, and having challenged Willis for her position in this year’s Democratic primary, I understand the immense responsibility that comes with wielding prosecutorial power. Public trust isn’t just earned through the cases we choose to pursue, but it’s also earned in the way we conduct ourselves and manage our offices.
Whether you agree with the court disqualifying Willis or not, the court wouldn’t have been in a position to make that decision if she hadn’t hired Wade in the first place. Several of my former colleagues were well equipped to do the work she hired Wade to do.
The disqualification of DA Willis and her office doesn’t just impact this single case — as significant as it is. It undermines public confidence in our justice system and raises legitimate questions, yet again, about her prosecutorial judgment. The relationship between Willis and Wade, along with the financial arrangements surrounding his appointment, created an appearance of impropriety that could have and should have been avoided.
At an April debate sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club that Willis declined to attend, I stated then that her hiring Wade was a waste of resources: “When you pay one attorney $1 million to handle a case, it hurts everyone else in Fulton County,” I said at the time. I said we had to carry out the prosecution against Trump and his co-defendants “while addressing everything else affecting Fulton.”
The appellate court removing the office from the case because of Willis’ relationship with Wade is particularly frustrating because it shifts focus away from the serious underlying allegations and onto the prosecutor’s personal conduct. It’s even more frustrating because Willis had previously been disqualified from prosecuting a target in this same case. She was disqualified from prosecuting Republican Burt Jones (a state senator who was later elected lieutenant governor) because she had hosted a fundraiser for his opponent, a former Fulton County District Attorney’s Office colleague.
The citizens of Fulton County deserved better. We deserved prosecutions that would stand or fall on the merits of evidence, not collapse due to preventable personal conflicts of interest. RICO prosecutions are meant to address organized criminal enterprises that threaten our communities. Typically, RICO cases are complex, lengthy and expensive. In addition to being disqualified from the RICO case involving Trump and his co-defendants, Willis and her office effectively lost the Young Thug and YSL RICO case. The main defendant pleaded guilty and was effectively sentenced to time served, but that should count as a loss given how much time the state wanted him to serve, how long the case took to prosecute, how much the prosecution cost, other co-defendants being acquitted and it ending with a plea deal from the main defendant that could have been accomplished two years ago. The Trump case should serve as a reminder that the integrity of our system depends not just on what we do, but how we do it. That case, the longest trial in the history of Fulton County, left taxpayers with nothing but a huge bill, an extensive case backlog, and an overcrowded jail. When such cases falter due to prosecutorial missteps (for example, a secret ex parte meeting with a judge and a prosecution witness) it can affect public perception of all RICO prosecutions, potentially making future cases more difficult to pursue. Moving forward, the Trump case should serve as a stark reminder that the integrity of our justice system depends not just on what we do, but how we do it. Prosecutors should be beyond reproach and must maintain the highest ethical standards, especially in high-profile cases where public trust is paramount. While this outcome is not surprising, it’s still disappointing. It should motivate us to demand better from our public officials. The citizens of Fulton County deserve prosecutors who not only pursue justice vigorously but do so with unimpeachable integrity. Only then can we ensure that justice is truly served.
Christian Wise Smith
Christian Wise Smith is a former Fulton County Assistant District Attorney and City of Atlanta prosecutor with over a decade of legal experience. He currently serves as a criminal defense attorney in private practice and non profit founder. After seeing the need for reform in the justice system, Wise Smith ran for Fulton County District Attorney in 2020 and 2024, campaigning on platforms of prosecutorial reform and community-focused justice. He is also the author of "Wiseup Adventure Series: Chris and Key Go Vote!," a children's book about civic engagement. 
