Right-wing group wins lawsuit to see Fani Willis' emails with Jack Smith and J6 committee

A right-wing legal group cheered Tuesday after a Fulton County judge granted a motion for default judgment against District Attorney Fani Willis in a lawsuit to gain access to communications Willis had with special counsel Jack Smith and the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6.

New York Times reporter Sean Keenan posted the order. The court granted Judicial Watch’s request seeking attorneys’ fees and ordered Willis to hand over releasable records to Judicial Watch within five business days.

"Lest any of this appear unfair to Defendant -- who arguably was without notice that Plaintiff had filed the return of service on 13 March 2024 until 15 April 2024 when Plaintiff again filed it and the Clerk caused the original 13 March filing to appear in the docket -- Defendant could have opened her default as a matter of right on 15 April 2024 or soon thereafter, as she remained well within the fifteen-day grace period established by O.C.G.A. § 9-11-55(a)," Judge Robert McBurney wrote.

Willis could have taken any number of actions within the "statutory grace period" but largely ignored the filing, he said.

"none of that: she never moved to open default on any basis (not even by failing to either turn over responsi

The court set a hearing on the attorney fees award for Dec. 20.

“Fani Willis is something else. We’ve been doing this work for 30 years, and this is the first time in our experience a government official has been found in default for not showing up in court to answer an open records lawsuit,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. “Judicial Watch looks forward to getting any documents from the Fani Willis operation about collusion with the Biden administration and Nancy Pelosi’s Congress on her unprecedented and compromised ‘get-Trump’ prosecution.”