Fani Willis In Hot Water Legally After Judge’s Ruling
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis finds herself at the center of a growing legal storm after a Georgia judge ruled in favor of Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, in a lawsuit over access to her office’s communications with Special Counsel Jack Smith and the House January 6 Committee.
The decision, issued by Judge Robert McBurney of the Fulton County Superior Court, comes after Willis’s office failed to respond in a timely manner to Judicial Watch’s open records request. The court granted a default judgment against Willis, ordering her to comply with state open records laws and produce the requested documents within five business days.
Judicial Watch initially filed the lawsuit in March 2024, accusing Willis of violating the Georgia Open Records Act. The request sought records related to communications between Willis, Special Counsel Jack Smith — who is overseeing federal investigations related to January 6 — and the House January 6 Committee. Judicial Watch alleged that Willis’s office wrongfully claimed no such records existed.
Willis’s office responded late Monday, denying that any records involving Special Counsel Jack Smith existed and citing legal exemptions for withholding communications with the January 6 Committee. However, the judge’s ruling now forces her office to conduct a more thorough search and justify any decisions to withhold documents.
Breaking News.🚨
Fulton County Superior Court has issued a default judgment against District Attorney Fani Willis for refusing to turn over records that could document her collusion with the J6 committee and Special Counsel Jack Smith.
The court order states: “By finding the… pic.twitter.com/pipBiByFyW
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) December 10, 2024
The case escalated after Willis missed key deadlines to respond. Despite being properly served with the lawsuit on March 11, 2024, Willis’s office failed to file a response within the required 30-day period. Judicial Watch subsequently filed for a default judgment in April. Willis argued that confusion over court docketing and orders had caused delays, but the judge dismissed those claims.
“Defendant is in default and has been since April 11, 2024,” the ruling stated. The judge found that Judicial Watch’s allegations were effectively uncontested and ordered Willis to search for and produce all relevant records.
At the heart of the lawsuit is a December 2021 letter from Willis to then-House January 6 Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, where Willis expressed a willingness to cooperate with the committee and offered to travel to Washington, D.C., if necessary. Judicial Watch argues this communication proves that Willis’s office engaged in discussions with federal entities about January 6-related matters, contradicting earlier denials of such records.
“Judicial Watch and a state court forced Fani Willis to confirm additional documents exist about her collusion with the partisan Pelosi January 6 Committee to ‘get Trump,’” said President Tom Fitton. “But Willis, citing legal exemptions for a prosecution that’s essentially dead in the water, now wants to hide these records from the America public. Judicial Watch plans to push back in court against this disingenuous secrecy.”
Earlier, in January 2024, Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit over the hiring of Nathan Wade as a special prosecutor in Georgia’s election dispute case. Separately, it revealed New York DA Alvin Bragg paid high-profile legal fees to fight oversight of Trump’s indictment.
“Fani Willis is something else,” Fitton said last week. “We’ve been doing this work for 30 years, and this is the first time in our experience a government official has been found in default for not showing up in court to answer an open records lawsuit.”
“Judicial Watch looks forward to getting any documents from the Fani Willis operation about collusion with the Biden administration and Nancy Pelosi’s Congress on her unprecedented and compromised ‘get-Trump’ prosecution,” Fitton continued.
The ruling arrives at a time of heightened scrutiny on Willis, who leads the high-profile case against former President and President-elect Donald Trump, and others tied to efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.
