What’s new

The Georgia Court of Appeals threw an ongoing racketeering trial against President-elect Donald Trump and his allies into chaos Thursday when it disqualified Fulton Country District Attorney Fani Willis from overseeing the case.

Why it matters

In doing so, the appeals court overruled a trial judge who had previously said Willis could remain in the case even though she had a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor her office had hired to manage the case.

The charges against Trump in Georgia remain in place for now. But that could quickly change under the leadership of a new prosecutor.

What you should know

For now, the verdict has no impact on Georgia prosecutors’ indictment against Trump and his associates, which charged the president-elect with racketeering, inciting a public official to violate an oath, conspiracy, making false statements, writing and archiving false documents in connection with his efforts, to overturn the 2020 election.

Judge E. Trenton Brown, who wrote the majority opinion for the Georgia Court of Appeals, said Thursday that the charges against Trump remain despite Willis’ disqualification.

“Appellants contend that the trial court erred in denying their motions to dismiss the charges,” the 2-1 majority opinion said. “The State responds that appellants have not shown that the trial court erred in finding that appellants failed to establish ‘that (their) due process rights were violated or that the matters at issue concerned them.’ impaired in any way’.”

Willis’ firing means a new prosecutor will take over the case. But legal experts are divided over what this means for the future of the prosecution.

“The disqualification of Fani Willis is completely without merit, bipartisan ethics experts agree,” Norm Eisen, who served as an ethics lawyer in the Obama administration, said in an email. “But there is a silver lining: Even this false opinion acknowledges that the charge still stands. “Furthermore, as the judge in (Trump’s) NY criminal sentencing just found, Trump is not immune from unofficial conduct.” Trump against USA and so it can continue.”

Eisen was referring to a landmark Supreme Court ruling in July that said a president cannot be prosecuted for actions related to the core powers of his office.

But Joyce White Vance, the former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, wrote that a new prosecutor taking the helm was “most likely a slow death knell, if not outright death, to the case.”

Dave Aronberg, the prosecutor for Palm Beach County, echoed that sentiment on MSNBC.

“The prosecutor may not have the zeal of Fani Willis in this case,” Aronberg said. “This is a Fani Willis case. I would imagine the new prosecutor might drop this case once he sets his sights on it.”

Willis’ firing represents a significant legal victory for the new president, whose lawyers criticized Willis over her relationship with Wade, arguing that it was a conflict of interest.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled in March that either Willis or Wade should recuse themselves from the case, and Wade tendered his resignation shortly thereafter.

Trump’s lawyers appealed the ruling, arguing that “nothing in the law – nowhere – says that the remedy for a appearance of impropriety is the disqualification of an apparently conflicted attorney, but not another.”

The president-elect’s team welcomed Thursday’s appeals court decision.

“In issuing an overwhelming mandate to President Trump, the American people have called for an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift end to all witch hunts against him,” Steven Cheung, Trump’s spokesman, said in a statement.

What people say

Judge Ben Land, who sits on the Georgia Court of Appeals, disagreed with the majority opinion: “It is not our job to question trial judges or to substitute our judgment for their judgment. We do not determine the facts, but instead rely on the court’s findings of fact when there is evidence to support them.”

Steve Sadow, Trump’s defense attorney, said in a statement: “This decision ends a politically motivated persecution of the next President of the United States.”

What comes next

Willis’ office filed a notice saying it intends to appeal Thursday’s ruling. If the appeal is granted, it would be decided by the Supreme Court of Georgia.