Fani Willis, the District Attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, finds herself in hot water after a judge ordered her to pay $21,578 in attorney’s fees and litigation costs. This ruling comes as a result of her office’s failure to adhere to Georgia’s Open Records Act (ORA). The decision was handed down by Judge Robert McBurney following a legal battle initiated by Judicial Watch, an organization that sought access to Willis’s communications with Special Counsel Jack Smith and the House January 6 Committee.
The issue began in August 2023 when Judicial Watch filed a request under the ORA. Initially, Willis’s office claimed no relevant records existed. However, evidence found by Judicial Watch suggested otherwise, leading them to file a lawsuit in March 2024. Court documents reveal that Willis’s office repeatedly denied having any responsive documents even after the lawsuit was underway. It wasn’t until December 2, 2024, that the DA’s office conducted what they called a “diligent search,” which suddenly uncovered records previously claimed not to exist. These records were then deemed exempt from disclosure by her office.
BREAKING: A judge in Georgia just ordered Fani Willis to pay over $21,000 to Judicial Watch to cover their legal fees in the lawsuit they brought against her to expose her collusion with the Biden DOJ to "get Trump."
The walls have fully closed in on Fani, and I bet she fully… pic.twitter.com/EgLqSzczBW
— George (@BehizyTweets) January 7, 2025
In one instance of compliance, Willis’s office provided Judicial Watch with a letter sent to the January 6 Committee. However, this letter had already been identified by Judicial Watch as improperly withheld. The unsigned and undated memo highlighted what the court saw as a clear violation of the ORA. Judge McBurney issued his order on January 3, criticizing how Willis handled the records request. He pointed out that her office did not search for any records until legally compelled to do so and even then failed to thoroughly examine emails or case files.
Judge McBurney expressed his concerns in his ruling: “This response was perplexing and eventually suspicious to Plaintiff,” he wrote after Judicial Watch discovered at least one document that should have been in possession of the District Attorney’s Office and responsive to their request. He concluded that Judicial Watch successfully proved both a violation of the ORA and an absence of “substantial justification” for such violations.
BREAKING: A judge in Georgia just ordered Fani Willis to pay over $21,000 to Judicial Watch to cover their legal fees in the lawsuit they brought against her to expose her collusion with the Biden DOJ to "get Trump."
The walls have fully closed in on Fani, and I bet she fully… pic.twitter.com/s1XeNjhSGw
— Johnny Midnight ⚡️ (@its_The_Dr) January 8, 2025
McBurney emphasized that non-compliance with ORA has consequences: “One of them can be liability for the requesting party’s attorney’s fees and costs of litigation.” To recover these fees under ORA, plaintiffs must show both a violation occurred and lacked substantial justification.
As a result, Willis has been ordered to pay $19,360 in attorney’s fees plus $2,218 in related litigation expenses within two weeks. The court also underscored troubling admissions from the DA’s Records Custodian who admitted under oath no search for records was conducted when Judicial Watch first submitted its request; instead responding with denials later proven false.