Judge Declines Trump’s Bid To Toss Georgia Charges Based On First Amendment

The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s Georgia racketeering case declined Thursday to dismiss charges based on the First Amendment.

Trump’s attorneys argued in a December motion that the indictment “directly targets core protected political speech and activity,” urging the judge to dismiss the charges as violations of the First Amendment. But Judge Scott McAfee found that the state “alleged more than mere expressions of a political nature,” writing that the defendants did not find “any authority that the speech and conduct alleged is protected political speech.”(RELATED: Trump Attorney Tells Judge ‘Underlying Basis’ Of Georgia Case Punishes Protected Political Speech)

 

“Although the Defendants characterize the relevant speech or actions as petitions to Congress regarding the validity of electors which must be afforded constitutional protection, at this stage the Court must consider the method and manner of the criminal enterprise as alleged in the indictment,” the judge wrote Thursday.

NEW: Judge McAfee denies Trump’s efforts to throw out criminal charges in Fulton County on First Amendment grounds.

Read the order: https://t.co/jsH6EYF1T1

— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) April 4, 2024

During a hearing last week, Trump’s attorney told McAfee there was no “underlying basis” for the case other than protected speech. He said that even false statements are protected, pointing to the Supreme Court’s ruling in United States v. Alvarez.

McAfee wrote in his ruling that the allegations contained in the indictment “do not suggest that this prosecution comes solely because it believes the speech was inaccurate.”

“Instead, the indictment avers throughout that the Defendants acted ‘willfully’ and ‘knowingly,’ and that they impacted matters of governmental concern,” he wrote. “These are not legal conclusions, but issues of fact.”

McAfee left open the possibility of defendants raising “similar as-applied challenges at the appropriate time after the establishment of a factual record.”

“President Trump and other defendants respectfully disagree with Judge McAfee’s order and will continue to evaluate their options regarding the First Amendment challenges,” Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead defense counsel, said in a statement. “It is significant that the court’s ruling made clear that defendants were not foreclosed from again raising their ‘as-applied challenges at the appropriate time after the establishment of a factual record.”

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