Case Closed

This Week in Democracy

• On Monday, four years after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that disrupted the peaceful transfer of power, Congress certified President-elect Trump as the winner of the 2024 presidential election. With no objections, the process took just 30 minutes. “Today, America’s democracy stood,” Vice President Kamala Harris said after overseeing the ceremony as required by the Constitution.
• An appeals court on Thursday cleared the way for U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to release Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report about Trump’s alleged interference in the 2020 presidential election. Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday temporarily blocked the second part of Smith’s report—about Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents—from being made public. The Justice Department is planning to appeal Cannon’s ruling.
• Trump was sentenced to unconditional discharge for his criminal hush money convictions in New York, meaning he will face no penalties but remain a convicted felon. Trump had asked Justice Juan Merchan, New York courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court to delay the sentencing. Each denied his request.
• JD Vance resigned from the U.S. Senate ahead of his inauguration as vice president on Jan. 20. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine will appoint a successor to complete Vance’s term.

State of the States

In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked the state Supreme Court to review a December decision by the Georgia Court of Appeals. The decision disqualified Willis from prosecuting the election interference case against President-elect Trump, overturning a trial court’s ruling. The charges against Trump and his co-defendants remain in place. If the state Supreme Court rules in Willis’ favor, the prosecution may continue. If it doesn’t, the case would presumably be assigned a new prosecutor by a state panel.

In North Carolina, the state Supreme Court blocked the State Board of Elections from certifying the results of a race for a seat on the Supreme Court. Before the election, the Republican National Committee and the state Republican Party filed multiple lawsuits challenging the eligibility of hundreds of thousands of voters. (Those suits did not result in any voters being disqualified.) After Judge Jefferson Griffin lost the election for the seat by just 734 votes, he filed hundreds of election protests raising similar claims as the pre-election suits. Griffin’s protests were dismissed by the State Board of Elections and are now moving through the appeals process. If Griffin’s challenges are successful, it could affect the outcome of the election.