Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was recently ordered to pay hefty legal fees of approximately $22,000 in relation to her violation of the open records law. A Georgia judge ordered Willis to make the payment to the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch for her refusal to supply documents in an open records lawsuit.
Last month, the Fulton County Superior Court found Willis in default for refusing to hand over the requested documents. She had previously refused to answer the open records lawsuit seeking to uncover communications between her and Special Counsel Jack Smith. Judicial Watch had requested that the court declare a default judgment against Willis after refusing to respond to its legal motion.
A May press release from the watchdog group outlined its request to the superior court. “Judicial Watch announced today that it asked the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia, to declare a default judgment against District Attorney Fani Willis in Judicial Watch’s lawsuit seeking records of communications Willis had with Special Counsel Jack Smith and the House January 6 Committee,” Judicial Watch said.
Further outlining the situation, the legal group added, “The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of Fulton County, GA, after Willis and the county denied having any records responsive to an August 2023 Georgia Open Records Act request for communications with the Special Counsel’s office and/or the January 6 Committee (Judicial Watch Inc. v. Fani Willis et al. (No. 24-CV-002805)). (Judicial Watch dismissed Fulton County from the lawsuit.)”
Judicial Watch explained that Willis had been served with the lawsuit in March 2024, which she had not responded to, violating Georgia law. “Defendant has not filed an answer and no answer has been served upon [Judicial Watch].… Defendant’s answer was due 30 days after service, or on April 10, 2024. Pursuant to [Georgia law] the case automatically became in default when an answer was not filed by the due date. Further pursuant to that Code section, Defendant was permitted as a matter of right to open the default within 15 days of the day of default, or by April 25, 2024.”
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton commented on the matter, explaining how unprecedented Willis’ conduct is. “I think this is the first time in Judicial Watch’s 30 years that a government official failed to answer an open records lawsuit in court,” he said. “This further shows Ms. Willis has something to hide about her collusion with the Biden administration and Nancy Pelosi’s Congress on her unprecedented and compromised ‘get-Trump’ prosecution.”
Fitton shared a statement to X in May 2024, explaining Willis’ failure to comply with the lawsuit. “BREAKING: Fani Willis Fails to Answer Public Records Lawsuit – @JudicialWatch Files Motion for ‘Default Judgment’ I think this is the first time in Judicial Watch’s thirty years that a government official failed to answer an open records lawsuit in court. This further shows Ms. Willis has something to hide about her collusion with the Biden administration and Nancy Pelosi’s Congress on her unprecedented and compromised “get-Trump” prosecution,” he wrote at the time.
Watch CNN react to Willis being removed from the case here:
Featured image credit: Fani For DA Campaign Website
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