Appeals court rules accused GA false electors cannot move trials to federal court

ATLANTA — A federal appeals court has told three people accused in the Georgia election interference case that they have no standing to move their case to federal court.

Former GOP head David Shafer, state Sen. Shawn Still and former Coffee County GOP Chair Cathy Latham had tried to say that they should be able to move their case to federal court because they were “acting with federal authority at the direction” of former President Donald Trump when they gathered at the State Capitol in 2020 to cast Electoral College votes for Trump.

The U.S. District Court denied that request, so they appealed it to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The appeals court again denied their request.

“Under our precedent, the federal-officer removal statute doesn’t apply to former federal officers, which Defendants claim to be,” Circuit Judge Rosenbaum wrote. “Defendants were not 2020 presidential Electors, no matter the modifiers they add to the title. The people of Georgia did not vote for them to be Electors. Nor does the purported position of ‘contingently elected presidential elector’ exist in the Constitution or federal or state law.”

“Defendants were no more presidential Electors simply because they give themselves the title than Martin Sheen was ever the President because he went by President Bartlet (from NBC’s The West Wing),” Rosenbaum continued. “Even lawful presidential Electors are not officers of the United States under the federal-officer removal statute. States—not the federal government—directly appoint Electors. And Electors never assume functions on behalf of the whole United States.”

Channel 2′s Richard Elliot was in the room in December 2020 as 16 GOP false electors signed a document declaring their votes for Trump.

Former State GOP chair David Shafer testified that the only reason they met was to keep former President Donald Trump’s elections lawsuits alive and that he was unaware of larger efforts to use the slate to overturn the election in Congress.

Otherwise, he said, a judge might be able to toss it out saying the GOP had no electors, so there was no need for the suit.

“Because the president’s lawsuit contesting the Georgia election has not been decided or even heard, we held this meeting to preserve his rights. Had we not held the meeting, then his lawsuit would effectively be mooted,” Shafer said.

But it’s that very meeting that caught the attention of prosecutors and of the Jan. 6 Commission.

That commission determined the false electors meeting in Georgia and in other key battleground states were part of a conspiracy to overthrow the popular vote and have then-Vice President Mike Pence refuse to accept the legal Democratic slate of electors and instead the Republican false slate of electors.

Outside that Dec. 2020 meeting, Shafer insisted he aggressively had to pursue the election challenge or under Georgia law, the contest was over.

“The precedent is that the election contest has not been resolved through, would have to under Georgia law, the contestant in an election must aggressively pursue that contest or it’s effectively abandoned,” Shafer said.

Most people had never heard of Cathy Latham before 2020. She had to explain to a roomful of state senators investigating potential voter fraud in December 2020 who she was.

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“I am the under 80,000 Caucus Chair for the Georgia GOP. I’m over 129 rural counties of Georgia. I’m also the chair for the Republican Party for Coffee County,” Latham testified.

Latham told senators stories of massive problems with the Dominion voting machines before and on Election Day.

She insisted when the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office followed up with an investigation, they did it only to intimidate her and others.

“Three people from the Secretary of State’s Office showed up with guns and badges and handcuffs and two Dominion tech reps. They came with the intend of intimidation,” Latham said.

The Secretary of State’s Office called the claims nonsense.

But then, just a day after the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, security video showed Latham outside the Coffee County Elections Office opening the door to a secure area and leading in a team of investigators linked to election denier Sidney Powell.

There, those techs allegedly illegally downloaded data from the Dominion voting machines as Latham and others looked on.

After being declared a possible target for criminal investigation, Latham later joined Trump in a motion to toss out the special purpose grand jury’s investigation and bar Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting the case.

Shawn Still remains a State Senator. On top of serving as one of the false electors, he also sued to decertify all of Georgia’s presidential election results based on allegations there were problems with voting equipment in South Georgia’s Coffee County.

The suit was voluntarily dismissed three weeks after it was filed.

The Georgia Election Interference case is currently on hold as the Georgia Court of Appeals decides whether or not Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can remain on the case.

Trump and other co-defendants filed a motion to remove Willis from the case over her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.

Willis and Wade acknowledged the relationship, which they said ended last summer, but they have argued it does not create any sort of conflict and has no bearing on the case.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled that Willis would be allowed to stay on the case if Wade stepped aside. Wade resigned the same day as the ruling.

Trump and his attorneys later submitted an appeal arguing the indictment should have been dismissed, and that Willis and her team should have been disqualified from the case.

The appeal will be heard in front of three justices, and oral arguments in the case are expected in December.

Four of the original 19 people indicted have taken plea deals in the case.

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