{"id":2213351,"date":"2024-04-04T19:22:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T23:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-rules-against-trump-attempt-to-have-georgia-election-case-thrown-out-over-first-amendment\/"},"modified":"2024-04-04T19:22:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T23:22:23","slug":"judge-rules-against-trump-attempt-to-have-georgia-election-case-thrown-out-over-first-amendment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-rules-against-trump-attempt-to-have-georgia-election-case-thrown-out-over-first-amendment\/","title":{"rendered":"Court rejects Trump&#8217;s bid to dismiss Georgia election lawsuit based on First Amendment"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjudge-rules-against-trump-attempt-to-have-georgia-election-case-thrown-out-over-first-amendment%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2213351&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Judge Scott McAfee ruled against former President Donald \u200bTrump and 14 co-defendants&#8217; bid to \u200bdismiss 2020 election-related charges in Georgia \u200don free speech grounds. Trump argued that DA Fani Willis&#8217;\u2062 prosecution violated First Amendment rights. However, McAfee disagreed,\u200d stating that constitutional protections didn&#8217;t shield alleged criminal\u200d conduct.\u2063 McAfee interpreted the indictment liberally in favor of \u2063the State during the\u2063 pretrial stage.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Judge <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/judge-presiding-over-trump-georgia-case-previously-worked-under-kemp-fulton-county-da\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Scott McAfee<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  ruled on Thursday against an argument from former President Donald Trump and 14 of his co-defendants to dismiss the 2020 election-related charges they face in Georgia on free speech grounds. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Trump had argued that the prosecution from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was a violation of First Amendment protections of political speech, freedom of association, and the right to petition. McAfee, who is overseeing the case, ruled against Trump arguing that Willis has a right to prosecute. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cAfter considering the extensive briefing, the argument of counsel, and the indictment, the Court finds these vital constitutional protections do not reach the actions and statements alleged by the State,\u201d McAfee <a href=\"https:\/\/s3.documentcloud.org\/documents\/24531551\/trump-1a-ruling-4424.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIn other words, the law does not insulate speech allegedly made during fraudulent or criminal conduct from prosecution under the guise of petitioning the government. The right to petition is not absolute, nor does it carry \u2018special First Amendment status\u2019 that would render claims asserted under it immune from criminal recourse,\u201d the judge added. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">McAfee said that he was required to interpret the indictment against Trump and his co-defendants \u201cliberally in favor of the State\u201d during the pretrial stage, adding that, \u201cthe Court finds that the Defendants\u2019 expressions and speech are alleged to have been made in furtherance of criminal activity and constitute false statements knowingly and willfully made in matters within a government agency\u2019s jurisdiction which threaten to deceive and harm the government.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Trump lawyer Steve Saddow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/trump-georgia-case-fulton-county-first-amendment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> that the defendants \u201crespectfully disagree with Judge McAfee\u2019s order and will continue to evaluate their options regarding the First Amendment challenges.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" aria-describedby=\"sk-tooltip-9096\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1700760801843000&#038;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">McAfee\u2019s order says that Trump may be able to challenge on the same grounds again later in the court case \u201cat the appropriate time after the establishment of a factual record.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Willis\u2019s case against Trump in Georgia has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/judge-rules-that-fani-willis-or-nathan-wade-has-to-leave-the-georgia-trump-case\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">full of turmoil<\/a> amid a high profile hearing on whether she should be dismissed from the case over her relationship with Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade. Willis stayed on the case after McAfee ruled that either she or Wade had to leave the case. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last month, McAfee dismissed six charges in the case brought by Willis, including three against Trump. McAfee dismissed counts 2, 5, 6, 23, 28, and 38. Each count deals with allegations that Trump and his allies asked Georgia officials to break their oaths of office. The defendants challenged the charges, saying their Sixth Amendment rights and due process rights had been violated. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Judge Scott McAfee&#8217;s Thursday ruling denied former President Donald Trump and 14 co-defendants&#8217; attempt to dismiss 2020 election-related charges in Georgia based on free speech. Trump claimed the prosecution by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis violated First Amendment political protections<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":2213352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-1413333546.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2213351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-1413333546.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2213351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2213352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2213351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2213351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2213351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}