Nov. 13 (UPI) — The Supreme Court has rejected a petition from Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff during the first Trump administration, to move his 2020 election subversion case to federal court.
The high court did not provide a reason for its rejection.
Meadows is among 19 people, including Donald Trump, charged in Georgia with attempting to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election results.
The 41-count indictment came down in August 2023, and Meadows has been trying for months to move the case from Georgia to federal courts, arguing the charges were related to his federal duties.
Had the case been moved to federal court, he was expected to claim immunity from prosecution. In July, the Supreme Court had ruled that Trump had some immunity for charges filed against him for official acts in a similar federal case brought against the now president-elect for his rule in attempting to subvert the 2020 election results, which led to Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
However, Meadows’ attorney, George Terwilliger III, said in a statement Tuesday that he can still argue for immunity in state court.
“We are confident that eventually Mr. Meadows’ Constitutional Immunity under the Supremacy Clause will lead to his exoneration in these politically motivated state prosecutions,” he said, CNN reported.
“The Supreme Court’s not hearing this case now only means that we will have to continue to assert his rights and his substantive innocence in state courts for the time being.”
Meadows, who denies the charges, had turned to the Supreme Court in late July after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled late last year for the case to remain in the Georgia court system.
In September, a district judge in Arizona also denied Meadows’ bid to move a similar 2020 election subversion case from that state to federal court.
Last month, Jenna Ellis, a former Trump attorney, became the fourth defendant to plead guilty in the Georgia conspiracy case.