The Daily Fuckup

Three Georgia Republicans accused in the election-interference case were in federal court on Sept. 20, 2023, arguing that the 2020 Trump elector slate they signed was a lawful backup tied to pending election litigation, not a criminal fake-elector plot. David Shafer, Shawn Still and Cathleen Latham all sought to use the federal-officer removal statute to shift their prosecutions out of Fulton County Superior Court and into federal court. Shafer’s removal filing said he and other Republican nominees had acted under federal and constitutional authority connected to the Electoral Count Act and the presidential-elector process. ([justsecurity.org](https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/David-Shafer-Notice-of-Removal-Aug.-21-2023.pdf))

Their legal theory depended on one central claim: that the slate was meant to preserve Donald Trump’s position while Georgia’s election challenge was still moving through the courts. In the removal papers, Shafer described the December 2020 meeting as part of an effort to keep the contest alive while litigation continued. State prosecutors have said the certificate falsely claimed Trump had won Georgia and was part of an effort to overturn the certified result after Joe Biden had already been declared the winner. ([justsecurity.org](https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/David-Shafer-Notice-of-Removal-Aug.-21-2023.pdf))

As of Sept. 22, 2023, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones had not yet ruled on the removal bid. The hearing on Sept. 20 was a consolidated evidentiary proceeding on jurisdiction and removal, and Jones later rejected Latham’s removal petition in an order dated Sept. 29, 2023, sending her case back to state court. The Sept. 20 hearing therefore marked the defendants’ attempt to test their federal-court theory, not a final decision on it. ([justsecurity.org](https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Just-Security-Georgia-Trump-Clearinghouse-%E2%80%94-District-Court-order-denying-Cathy-Latham-removal-petition-remanding-case-to-state-court-Sept.-29-2023.pdf))

The filing and hearing left the parties fighting over labels as much as law. The defendants’ side called the slate contingent electors; the state treated it as a criminal act tied to the larger post-election effort in Georgia. The record from the removal papers and the later court order shows the basic sequence plainly: Georgia certified Biden’s win, the Republican-nominated electors met anyway, and the defendants later tried to recast that meeting as conduct protected by federal law. ([justsecurity.org](https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/David-Shafer-Notice-of-Removal-Aug.-21-2023.pdf))