ATLANTA — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is opposing a request by the Fulton County district attorney’s office to put under seal court documents it intends to file in the ongoing investigation of former President Donald Trump and his allies.
“Operating the judicial branch of government in an open and public manner is fundamental to our system of justice as a matter of both federal and state constitutional law,” the Journal-Constitution’s motion said.
In a court filing Monday, the DA’s office asked Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who is overseeing the special purpose grand jury investigation, for permission to file its motion under seal.
“The state submits that the filing contains sensitive information, the public disclosure of which would cause certain harm to the privacy of persons in interest that clearly outweighs the public’s interest in disclosure,” said the motion, filed by DA Fani Willis’ deputy district attorney, Will Wooten.
The DA’s office gave no indication what the upcoming motion was about. But it did note that the office’s request to McBurney was also sent to attorneys Holly Pierson and Kimberly Burroughs Debrow.
Pierson and Debrow represent 11 of the 16 Republican alternate electors who cast fake Electoral College votes for Trump in a ceremony inside the state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020. Their vote, conducted in secret, coincided with the official votes cast by 16 Democrats for President Joe Biden in the Senate chamber.
In prior court filings, the DA’s office has said the 16 alternate electors are targets of the special purpose grand jury that is investigating attempts to interfere with or influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Among the 11 fake electors represented by Pierson and Debrow are: Shawn Still, the Republican nominee for state Senate to represent District 48 in Fulton and Gwinnett counties; Atlanta lawyer Brad Carver of the Hall Booth Smith firm; state GOP chair David Shafer; Joseph Brannan, treasurer of the state GOP; and Vikki Consiglio, assistant state GOP treasurer.
In its motion filed Monday, the DA’s office also asked McBurney to keep private any other court pleadings and evidence filed in response to the motion it wants to be put under seal. And it asked the judge to conduct any hearing on the matter in relative secrecy, with only the interested parties and their lawyers allowed to attend.
In response, the Journal-Constitution noted that while the presentation of testimony and evidence before the special purpose grand jury is not open to the public, court motions and proceedings “remain subject to the presumption of openness.”
The presumption of openness is particularly strong with respect “to public officials, public persons and government employees who have chosen a career path that invites public scrutiny,” said the Journal-Constitution’s motion, signed by attorneys Tom Clyde and Lesli Gaither.
The Journal-Constitution’s motion also says the DA’s office “fails to identify any argument, evidence or legal authority to support the relief it seeks. ... Paying nothing more than ‘lip service’ to the closure standard in this way is exactly what the Georgia Supreme Court has rejected time and time again.”
The ongoing investigation “is a matter of profound public interest,” the motion added. “Indeed, it is difficult to imagine a special purpose grand jury investigation of more public importance than this one.”
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