The stunning and mysterious decision on Monday by the Georgia Court of Appeals to indefinitely delay oral arguments over whether the district attorney of Fulton County, Fani Willis, is disqualified from prosecuting President Trump suggests the case is set for even more dramatic developments– even after Trump’s election victory has largely torpedoed the other criminal cases against him..

The appellate tribunal had set a date of December 5 to hear oral arguments over whether to affirm or overturn Judge Scott McAfee’s determination that Ms. Wills could continue to superintend the prosecution of Trump and 18 others (four of whom have reached plea deals) for racketeering and other crimes. The defendants contend that the district attorney’s  secret romance with her handpicked special prosecutor, Nathan Wade, injured their due process rights and amounted to a conflict of interest.

The defendants also adduced as evidence cellular telephone data that Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade exchanged thousands of calls and text messages before he was hired. The former lovers maintain their relationship only began after Mr. Wade was hired. Ms. Willis called his credentials “impeccable,” even though he has never prosecuted a felony case before.  The then-couple traveled together for pleasure to Belize, Aruba, and Napa Valley during Mr. Wade’s employment by Fulton County.

Judge McAfee conceded that Ms. Willis’s behavior conveyed a “significant appearance of impropriety” and that the testimony she and Mr. Wade delivered under oath emitted an “odor of mendacity.” He also found that comments she made accusing her defendants of “playing the race card” were legally improper. Still, he found that her behavior did not amount to an “actual conflict of interest” and kept her on the case.

The judge ordered that if Ms. Willis remained on the case, Mr. Wade was required to resign. He did with dispatch, and has since gone on television to declare that “workplace romances are as American as apple pie.” Both he and Ms. Willis contend that she paid him back for her share of the trips they took together with cash she kept at her house. Her father testified that keeping large quantities of currency at home “is a Black thing.”   

The Georgia Court of Appeals granted Trump’s request to review that ruling, but now declares in a one line order that “the oral argument scheduled to take place on December 5, 2024 at 10:30 a.m. is hereby canceled until further order of this Court.” That decision comes sus sponte, meaning that it was made by the court of its own accord, not in response to a request from one of the parties.

The court provided no explanation or reasoning. Word of the delay comes just under two weeks after Trump defeated Vice President Harris in the presidential election. That outcome means that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s two federal cases are on borrowed time — Trump has vowed to fire the prosecutor “within two seconds of taking the oath of office.” Mr. Smith is reportedly readying to resign before that happens.

The fate of Ms. Willis’s prosecution after January 20 is less clear. Trump has no power to fire the Atlanta prosecutor, who won reelection this month in her majority minority county which comprises much of downtown Atlanta . The president’s pardon power, which is limited to “offenses against the United States,” is interpreted to be unavailing with respect to state crimes. The Supreme Court could reason that the prospect of a trial would interfere with Trump’s upcoming duty to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”

Ms. Willis could reason that the voters of Fulton County delivered her a mandate to continue her prosecution of Trump. In March, she told CNN that despite efforts to remove her from the case she does not feel “like we’ve been slowed down at all. I do think there are efforts to slow down this train, but the train is coming.” Ms. Willis won her race with 69 percent of the vote. 

It could be that the Georgia jurists are looking to New York. Judge Merchan has already twice delayed decisions on whether the 34 hush money convictions against Trump can withstand presidential immunity — and whether to sentence the 47th prescient. The prosecutor in that case, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, has a Tuesday deadline to explain to Judge Merchan how the People expect him to handle the immunity issue.