Sunday, October 27, 2024

11th Circuit rules that Trump's co-defendants cannot move their Georgia case to federal court

 The two opinions are here and here.  The Jeffrey Clark per curiam (W. Pryor, Rosenbaum, and Grant) opinion starts like this:

Jeffrey Clark appeals the order remanding his state criminal prosecution for conspiring to interfere in the 2020 presidential election and denying his request to remove the special purpose grand jury proceeding that preceded his criminal indictment. Clark argues that he is entitled to remove his state prosecution based on federal-officer jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1), and the special purpose grand jury proceeding based on federal-question jurisdiction, id. §§ 1331, 1441(a). We affirm.

Judge Rosenbaum concurs:

I agree with the Majority Opinion that Jeffrey Clark cannot remove his Georgia criminal prosecution to federal court under 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1) (the “federal-officer removal statute”) because he is a former federal officer, and we have held that § 1442(a)(1) does not apply to former federal officers. But even if § 1442(a)(1) covered former federal officers, Clark still could not remove his Georgia prosecution to federal court under that statute. The federal-officer removal statute is not a get-out-of-statecourt-free card for federal officers. It allows a federal officer to remove his criminal prosecution from state court to federal court only if the action is “for or relating to any act under color of [their] office.” 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1). But none of Clark’s charged conduct falls within the job description of his former positions as a federal officer. So Clark can’t satisfy the removal statute. 

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous5:26 PM

    The former officer question is interesting but the Eleventh Circuit got it wrong in Pate and now also in this case and the case involving Mark Meadows. Wonder if that was the Chief’s plan all along.

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