Fulton County, Ga. district attorney Fani Willis may want to add “avoiding accountability” to her résumé.  This week, a scathing court order — entered on January 3 but only recently made public — revealed that Willis’s office violated Georgia’s Open Records Act (ORA) with all the finesse of a door slammed in your face.  The case, brought by Judicial Watch, has resulted in Willis being ordered to pay attorneys’ fees — a stark rebuke for a prosecutor who has spent much of her tenure basking in the national spotlight.

It’s not every day that a court order reads like a dissection of bureaucratic stonewalling, but this one delivers.  As the judge succinctly put it, Georgia’s ORA “is not hortatory; it is mandatory.  Non-compliance has consequences.”  For Willis, those consequences include a public pummeling of her office’s handling of records requests and a financial penalty that underscores her disregard for the transparency laws she’s supposed to uphold.

A “No, Go Away” Approach to the Law

The court’s findings paint a damning picture of how Willis’s office responded — or more accurately, did not respond — to open records requests.  Judicial Watch sought records related to Willis’s handling of documents and communications involving the January 6th Committee, but instead of compliance, they got what the court described as a “no, go away” response.

Willis’s records custodian admitted under deposition that no real search was conducted when the original request was filed in August 2023.  Instead, her office flatly — and falsely — “informed Plaintiff four separate times” that no responsive records existed (emphasis in the original court order).  Even after litigation began, the effort to find records was haphazard at best.  The custodian admitted that employees were merely asked if they thought they had responsive records — no thorough review of emails or files was conducted.

Only after a December 2024 court order did Willis’s office find responsive records, which they then claimed were exempt from disclosure.  The court acknowledged that some exemptions under the ORA might apply, but it didn’t excuse the complete lack of effort to comply with the law in the first place.

Mandatory, Not Optional

Georgia’s ORA exists for a reason: to ensure transparency and accountability in government.  As the court pointed out, it’s not an aspirational guideline — it’s the law.  Violations come with consequences, including liability for the requesting party’s attorneys’ fees.

In this case, the court found Willis’s violations egregious enough to warrant such penalties.  Not only did her office not follow the ORA, but they also lacked any “justification, substantial or otherwise” for their non-compliance.  As the court noted, “no one searched until prodded by civil litigation.”

This isn’t just a technical violation; it’s a fundamental failure to uphold the principles of transparency and accountability.  For a prosecutor who has styled herself as a champion of justice, the irony is impossible to ignore.

A Pattern of Evasion

This latest episode fits neatly into a troubling pattern of behavior from Willis.  Whether it’s being disqualified from the Trump case for a “significant appearance of impropriety”; mishandling financial arrangements with her very special prosecutor, given the...well, unique dynamics of their relationship; or now violating open records laws, the common thread is a disregard for the rules when they don’t suit her agenda.

What makes this case even more galling is the brazenness of the evasion.  The idea that a public office could simply ignore a lawful records request, falsely claim that no records exist, and then grudgingly produce exempt records only after a court order is a slap in the face to the principles of open government.

Selective Outrage from the Media

It’s worth noting how the media’s treatment of Willis has shifted — or rather, hasn’t.  Progressive outlets that lionized her as the fearless prosecutor taking on Donald Trump have largely ignored this latest debacle.  One can only imagine the wall-to-wall coverage if a conservative prosecutor had violated transparency laws this blatantly.

The silence from the usual defenders of government accountability is deafening.  It’s as if the same principles they claim to uphold are suddenly negotiable when applied to someone on their ideological team.

A Wake-Up Call for Public Officials

This case is more than just an embarrassment for Willis; it’s a wake-up call for public officials everywhere.  Transparency laws are designed to hold government accountable to the people, ensuring officials serve the public interest rather than their own.  Ignoring them isn’t just a governmental misstep — it’s a betrayal of public trust.

The court’s order sends a clear message: public officials don’t get to pick and choose when the law applies to them.  For Willis, the financial penalty may be negligible compared to the damage this does to her credibility.  But for the public, it’s a reminder of why vigilance is necessary when dealing with those who wield government power.

The Legacy of Fani Willis

Willis’s tenure as Fulton County district attorney is shaping up to be a master class in how not to manage public trust.  From romantic escapades to legal missteps, her office has become synonymous with scandal and incompetence.

The court’s order is a much needed reckoning.  The real question is whether Willis—or others like her—will learn from it.  Based on her track record, it is hard to be optimistic.  For now, Fulton County residents can only hope that this latest debacle marks the beginning of a long overdue accountability process.

Charlton Allen is an attorney and former chief executive officer and chief judicial officer of the North Carolina Industrial Commission. He is the founder and editor of The American Salient and the host of the Modern Federalist podcast.

Image via Picryl.