Trump demands appeal of Georgia judge's ruling denying First Amendment argument

Donald Trump and his 13 co-defendants in his Georgia election interference trial are appealing a recent ruling that upheld the criminal charges leveled against them, court records show.

Lawfare's Anna Bower reported Monday an appeal was filed in Fulton County Superior Court over Judge Scott McAfee’s ruling, which rejected the claim that Trump’s voter fraud comments in the 2020 election were covered under free speech protections.

As Atlanta First News pointed out, last week McAfee ruled that the defense "has not presented, nor is the Court able to find, any authority that the speech and conduct alleged is protected political speech."

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"After interpreting the indictment’s language liberally in favor of the State as required at this pretrial stage, the Court finds that the Defendants’ expressions and speech are alleged to have been made in furtherance of criminal activity and constitute false statements knowingly and willfully made in matters within a government agency’s jurisdiction which threaten to deceive and harm the government," McAfee's ruling stated.

In a post to X, one of Trump's attorneys shared a statement saying that "Trump and the other unjustly accused defendants have jointly filed a motion requesting the Court to grant a certificate of immediate review of its Order denying their pretrial First Amendment challenges."

"The motion powerfully expresses that the Indictment wrongfully criminalizes core political speech and expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment," Trump attorney Steve Saddow stated. "There is no democracy without robust and uninhibited freedom of expression. For these reasons among others, the Court’s Order is ripe for pretrial appellate review.”

Trump's request for an appeal stated that a review is warranted "because the challenges relate to Defendants’ core political, free speech rights in the context of then-ongoing aftermath of the 2020 Presidential election."

"While Defendants cited a plethora of U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Circuit Court cases supporting their position, no Georgia appellate courts have addressed whether the challenged Georgia statutes can survive the criminalization of Defendants’ core political speech," the filing stated.