President-elect Donald Trump's former White House chief of staff has suffered a legal blow in the form of a Supreme Court refusal, according to records and reports.
Mark Meadows' argument that he was acting as a "federal officer" when he tried to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results failed to impress the nation's highest court, NBC News was among the first to report Tuesday.
Meadows' name appears on a list of cases the Supreme Court has declined to consider.
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Meadows had hoped to bump his election interference case from state to federal court.
But that demand failed first in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled against him for two reasons, namely that Meadows is no longer a federal officer and his actions were not official duties, NBC News reported.
Meadows pleaded not guilty to two criminal counts in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' election racketeering case, the report noted.
Supreme Court reporter Lyle Denniston said Tuesday the decision came as a "major surprise" considering Meadows had a "star lawyer."
Kaelan Deese, Supreme Court reporter for the D.C. Examiner, told readers this decision was the end of the road for Meadow's argument — but questions remained as Trump prepared to return to the White House in 2025.
"Meadows has exhausted all of his steps now on this front, but questions remain over the fate of the GA case with Trump as incoming POTUS," he wrote.
"A hearing at the Georgia Court of Appeals over Trump and several co-defendants' efforts to remove Willis as lead prosecutor is set for Dec. 5."