{"id":2647237,"date":"2026-08-20T07:38:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignlegal-experts-draw-the-roadmap-for-how-state-prosecutors-can-hold-fauci-accountable\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T07:41:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:41:00","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignlegal-experts-draw-the-roadmap-for-how-state-prosecutors-can-hold-fauci-accountable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignlegal-experts-draw-the-roadmap-for-how-state-prosecutors-can-hold-fauci-accountable\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal Experts Explain How States Can Hold Fauci Accountable"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/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%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignlegal-experts-draw-the-roadmap-for-how-state-prosecutors-can-hold-fauci-accountable%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=2647237&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>The article critiques Dr. Anthony Fauci\u2019s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting allegations of deceit, misconduct, and collusion with media and corporate entities. Newly released government records and diaries reveal Fauci\u2019s obsession with self-promotion, false statements about the virus and its origins, and suppression of details regarding vaccine risks to pregnant women. Calls for accountability have increased, but a presidential pardon complicates federal prosecution efforts. Legal experts suggest that state-level actions may still hold Fauci responsible through avenues like consumer protection laws and tort claims, despite significant legal hurdles such as the Westfall Act\u2019s immunity protections for federal employees. Potential strategies include examining Fauci\u2019s role in funding gain-of-function research and addressing his suppression of the lab-leak theory. Some state attorneys general have already begun investigating and subpoenaed Fauci over COVID-related misconduct. the article advocates for a strategic, multi-faceted approach to seek justice and accountability for Fauci\u2019s actions during the pandemic.  <\/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<div>\n<p>There are a lot of sordid government figures in need of <em>real<\/em> accountability for abusing their power against the American people. But perhaps none other is more deserving than Dr. <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/anthony-fauci\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Anthony Fauci<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As White House Covid czar during the Trump and Biden presidencies, Fauci was tasked with overseeing the governmental response to the viral outbreak. While marketed as <em>the<\/em> leading authority on all things Covid-19, Americans would learn in the years that followed that the self-absorbed health official and his allies\u2019 conduct throughout the pandemic amounted to everything but \u201cfollowing the science.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the past few weeks alone, newly unearthed government records have affirmed Fauci\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/07\/27\/if-you-thought-anthony-fauci-was-an-egomaniac-wait-until-you-read-his-covid-diary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">obsession<\/a> with his own self-promotion, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/07\/27\/here-are-all-the-media-hacks-who-got-shoutouts-in-faucis-diary-for-giving-him-tongue-baths\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">collusion<\/a> with corporate media, and <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/07\/27\/faucis-diary-shows-5-major-covid-lies-he-told-the-american-public\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">numerous falsehoods<\/a> he told the public about the virus and its origins. These new releases also included <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/08\/11\/texts-fauci-and-friends-covered-up-concerns-about-the-covid-vax-and-miscarriages\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bombshell text messages<\/a> from the former NIAID director about the Covid vaccines\u2019 risks to pregnant women \u2014 risks that he and others did not disclose to the public.<\/p>\n<p>In light of such revelations, Americans far and wide have renewed their calls for charges to be brought against Fauci for his lies and wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<p>A sweeping <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/01\/20\/mentally-incompetent-biden-confirms-guilt-of-j6-committee-fauci-milley-with-last-minute-pardons\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">last-minute pardon<\/a> from President Joe Biden made that objective more difficult by effectively closing the door on any potential federal prosecution of Fauci for his actions throughout the pandemic. And with uncertainty about the success of <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/08\/06\/senate-committee-holds-fauci-in-contempt-for-refusing-to-answer-for-covid-lies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">possible contempt charges<\/a> for Fauci\u2019s refusal to testify before Congress, all eyes have now turned to the states.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking with The Federalist, several legal specialists noted the difficulty state prosecutors will likely face as they seek to hold Fauci accountable for his Covid conduct. In spite of these prospective hurdles, however, they offered several potential avenues they say are worth pursuing to ensure the American people get the justice they deserve.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am very much in the camp that Fauci lied to the American people, and he deserves to be held accountable for those lies, both at the state and federal level,\u201d America First Policy Institute Senior Fellow Chad Mizelle told The Federalist. \u201cI certainly think that state governments have options in pursuing claims against Fauci, and I very much hope that they will.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Potential Legal Avenues<\/h2>\n<p>As previously stated, Fauci\u2019s sweeping pardon has complicated federal efforts to prosecute him for potentially criminal conduct throughout the pandemic. But according to Mizelle and Hans Mahncke, a Federalist contributor and the founder of the Counterlawfare Institute, that doesn\u2019t mean there are no avenues state prosecutors can look to when investigating the former health official for purported violations of the law.<\/p>\n<p>While noting the damaging consequences from the policies advised by Fauci and Co. (children\u2019s learning loss, business losses from lockdown policies, and so forth), Mizelle, a former senior Justice Department official, said state attorneys general might want to examine action under consumer protection and deceptive practices statutes. He noted that while such laws have been used to go after major corporations and organizations for \u201cintentionally deceiving consumers,\u201d they could also potentially provide a route to pursue Fauci.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere, it could be buying masks; it could be getting vaccines that they otherwise wouldn\u2019t have done; it could have been foregoing opening a business when they otherwise would have done that,\u201d Mizelle said. \u201cI think that\u2019s one potential interesting avenue that, if I were a state, I\u2019d want to explore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The former DOJ official noted that another possible path could be \u201csome sort of mass <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/wex\/tort\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tort<\/a> action\u201d from the states. Comparing it to an oil company\u2019s \u201cnegligent\u201d conduct that leads to a massive spill affecting states and their residents, he said \u201ca similar analogy\u201d could be drawn to Fauci and Co.\u2019s Covid misconduct and its aftereffects.<\/p>\n<p>While not as familiar with the consumer protection angle, Mahncke agreed with Mizelle\u2019s tort suggestion and additionally recommended states \u201cthrow everything at it and try and find a court that will take it.\u201d The key, he said, is for states to \u201ctry and find some gap somewhere\u201d and \u201cthen just tak[e] it one step at a time from there.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Hurdles to Accountability<\/h2>\n<p>Bringing such charges against Fauci may be easier said than done. Mizelle and Mahncke observed that there are major hurdles state AGs will face in their pursuit of justice \u2014 namely, federal immunity and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/100th-congress\/house-bill\/4612\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Westfall Act<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>As described by Mahncke, the 1988 Westfall Act effectively \u201cimmunizes all federal employees from\u201d state charges for conduct performed as part of their official government duties. It essentially \u201creplaces the worker with the federal government\u201d in litigation, so that \u201crather than suing the worker,\u201d he said, \u201cyou can only sue the federal government, and then of course you\u2019re not going to hold the worker accountable because they\u2019re immunized.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s an important distinction that makes it more difficult under the Westfall Act as compared to normal employment law. If an employee does just totally crazy things that have nothing to do with their employment, well, then they can be sued themselves, and then the employer is not liable for them. So, it\u2019s sort of much more flexible,\u201d Mahncke said. \u201cUnfortunately, when you look at the Westfall Act, the way it\u2019s been interpreted, it even includes things where the employee [like] Fauci does really, really bad things \u2014 maybe even criminal things \u2014 and the Westfall Act would still apply.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Counterlawfare Institute founder said the \u201ctrick\u201d for state prosecutors will be to find an avenue where the Westfall Act does not apply. He noted that one potential way around it may be found in Fauci\u2019s efforts to suppress the lab-leak theory and obscure his role in funding gain-of-function research in Wuhan.<\/p>\n<p>Among the revelations in his recently released \u201cdiaries\u201d is a January 2020 entry in which Fauci <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/07\/27\/faucis-diary-shows-5-major-covid-lies-he-told-the-american-public\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">acknowledged<\/a> that Covid-19 likely did not originate from a Wuhan wet market \u2014 seemingly the complete opposite of the position he took when discussing the issue in public. The former NIAID director notably played a role in approving funds to the nongovernmental group EcoHealth Alliance, which, from 2014-2020, shipped \u201cmore than half a million dollars\u2019 worth of U.S. government grants \u2026 to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) to conduct gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses,\u201d as Federalist Senior Contributor Helen Raleigh previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/02\/28\/fauci-and-ecohealths-peter-daszak-silenced-lab-leak-conspiracy-theory-congress-shouldnt-let-them-forget-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Fauci knew there were potential risks from the vaccines but nevertheless urged pregnant women to take them because he believed mass vaccination was necessary, he was still doing the job the government employed him to do. That may not be satisfying, but that is how Westfall works,\u201d Mahncke said. \u201cCovering up Covid\u2019s origin to conceal Fauci\u2019s own role is fundamentally different. The government did not employ Fauci to protect Fauci. It did not authorize him to suppress the truth, conceal his own conduct, or prevent the public from discovering wrongdoing in which he was implicated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWestfall protects officials who commit wrongs while doing the government\u2019s work. It does not protect officials who use government power to hide their own wrongdoing,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n<p>Both Mizelle and Mahncke also opined that it would be a \u201csteeper climb\u201d for individual citizens to bring successful medical malpractice and similar lawsuits against Fauci. On the Covid jabs and miscarriages issue, for instance, they said such potential suits would run into \u201ccausation\u201d problems and face a \u201cmuch higher bar\u201d in court. <\/p>\n<h2>Need for a Strategy<\/h2>\n<p>While recognizing the reality of such difficulties, Mizelle and Mahncke affirmed that states should not be deterred from trying to hold Fauci accountable for his Covid-related misconduct. <\/p>\n<p>Mahncke advised like-minded state attorneys general to hold a strategy meeting to \u201cfigure out how you\u2019re going to go about it,\u201d and to assemble \u201cexperts on Westfall who know the case law inside out.\u201d He also encouraged state AG offices with adequate resources to lead the charge in pursuing such litigation. <\/p>\n<p>The attorneys general of Florida, Louisiana, and West Virginia <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myfloridalegal.com\/newsrelease\/attorney-general-james-uthmeier-subpoenas-dr-anthony-fauci-over-potential-self-dealing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">subpoenaed<\/a> Fauci days after his refusal to testify before Congress. The move comes as part of \u201can official investigation into awards, professional opportunities, financial incentives, grants, and COVID-19 guidance that impacted\u201d these states\u2019 consumers and businesses, according to a Florida AG press release. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fauci faces calls for accountability over COVID misconduct<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2647238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Anthony-Fauci.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[8049,84423,5045,4431,80131],"class_list":["post-2647237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-accountability","tag-drfauci","tag-government","tag-legal","tag-publichealth"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Anthony-Fauci.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2647237","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\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2647237"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2647237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2647240,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2647237\/revisions\/2647240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2647238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2647237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2647237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2647237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}