The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the motion of former North Carolina congressman and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to have his Georgia state court criminal prosecution for allegedly seeking to subvert the 2020 election moved to federal court. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Former North Carolina U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows will have to try his election subversion case in Georgia after the Supreme Court rejected a bid to remove it to federal court Tuesday.
Meadows, who was charged with racketeering and a slew of other felonies for participating in then-President Donald Trump’s scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, sought to move the case to federal court on the grounds that he was acting in his official capacity as Trump’s White House Chief of Staff.
In 2023, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Meadows argument failed, as the law did not provide for the removal of cases against former federal officials, only current ones. Further, the court found that the crimes alleged did not fall under Meadows’ official duties.
Meadows had petitioned the Supreme Court to take up his appeal, but the justices denied his motion for certiorari Tuesday morning, meaning the case will continue in Georgia state court.
“We are confident that eventually Mr. Meadow’s [sic] Constitutional Immunity under the Supremacy Clause will lead to his exoneration in these politically motivated state prosecutions,” Terwilliger wrote in a statement. “The Supreme Court’s not hearing this case now only means that we will have to continue to assert his rights and his substantive innocence in state courts for the time being.”
While Trump’s reelection as president appears to have cleared the way for him to skate free from legal trouble, Meadows’ prospects are far murkier. Because he is charged at the state level, Trump cannot pardon him, nor can he pressure Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to do the same.
Georgia is one of a few states that does not grant its governor the power to pardon criminal charges. Instead, that power is invested in a state pardon and parole board, which only considers pardons after a sentence has already been served.
It’s also not clear whether Trump would be willing to intercede on his former chief of staff’s behalf with what influence he does have. Trump, who returns to the presidency vowing retribution against a list of enemies, repeatedly warned former officials against cooperating with any of the investigations into him.
“I don’t think Mark Meadows would lie about the Rigged and Stollen 2020 Presidential Election merely for getting IMMUNITY against Prosecution (PERSECUTION!) by Deranged Prosecutor, Jack Smith,” Trump wrote in an October 2023 Truth Social post. “Some people would make that deal, but they are weaklings and cowards.”
Immediately prior to that post, ABC News reported that Meadows had been granted immunity in exchange for his cooperation with Smith’s election interference investigation — a report that if accurate, would put Meadows in Trump’s crosshairs alongside many of his other former officials.
“I don’t think that Mark Meadows is one of them, but who really knows?” Trump wrote.