Fani Willis shows us what “no one is above the law” really looks like

Finally no special treatment for Trump

We have all repeatedly heard the phrase “no one is above the law.” Well, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is finally showing us firsthand what that means with her handling of the recent charges against Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants. As we are seeing, no one—not Trump, not his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, not Rudy Giuliani—are getting special treatment. Instead, they are being treated like any other defendant. That is the way it should be to ensure that the words “no one is above the law” is not a cliché expression but rather the way our system should operate.

For starters, Willis announced on the night of August 15, after the grand jury returned the indictment, that she was setting the same deadline for all 19 defendants to surrender to Fulton County authorities. That is when Willis declared after noting that arrest warrants were already issued by the grand jury, "I am giving the defendants the opportunity to voluntarily surrender no later than noon on Friday, the 25th day of August."

And Willis was not joking around as Mark Meadows learned this week when he asked for an extension beyond this Friday to surrender. Meadows wanted the extra time because he had a motion pending to move the case to federal court as well as dismiss the charges against him.

Willis swiftly rejected that request, telling Meadow’s lawyers, “I am not granting any extensions.” She then added in a way that made it clear no one is above the law, “I gave 2 weeks for people to surrender themselves to the court. Your client is no different than any other criminal defendant in this jurisdiction.” Willis then brought down the hammer, “At 12:30 pm on Friday I shall file warrants in the system."

When Meadows then made an emergency motion to a federal judge to grant him an extension to Friday’s deadline, Willis responded by telling the federal judge that  Meadows' request was "meritless" since even under federal law he would be subject to arrest. The judge rejected Meadows’ request just as Willis had urged. Come Thursday afternoon, Meadows turned himself in to Fulton County authorities.

Then there is the fact that Trump, Rudy Giuliani and the other defendants have been required to post bail—just like any other defendant facing serious felonies in Georgia. Trump—who is charged with 13 felonies and has the highest bail set at $200,000—was so angered by this development that he took to his social media platform on Monday to complain that Willis “insisted” on him posting bail because she apparently thought he would flee to Russia.

The bail requirement is noteworthy given Trump had already been charged with 74 other felonies in three different jurisdictions, yet he has not been up until now required to post bail. While the laws in each jurisdiction vary when it comes to bail, some legal pundits have called out the special treatment Trump was afforded with very lenient bail conditions. For example, Reality Winner who was charged with one single count of Espionage—versus Trump’s  31 counts of violating that law—was denied bail until trial.

In addition, the conditions in connection with Trump’s release in the two federal cases did not include any significant pre-trial restrictions, apart from don’t communicate the facts of the case with any other defendant and don’t "influence a juror or try to threaten or bribe a witness or retaliate against anyone.”

In Fulton County, however, Trump is required to comply with a sweeping list of conditions to remain out on bail. The court order broadly states that Trump “shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a codefendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice." From there it lays out numerous other conditions imposed on Trump including barring him from making a “direct or indirect threat of any nature against the community or to any property in the community.” Importantly, given Trump’s history, these limitations apply to not just what Trump says but also to his “posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media.”

And then there are the mugshots. While the Sheriff of Fulton County Pat Labat –not Willis--controls the processing of defendants, he, too, joined in showing America what “no one is above the law” looks like by requiring those charged in this case to be treated like any other defendant-including a mugshot. As LaBat stated earlier in the month about the potential of Trump being charged, “We are following our normal practices, and so it doesn't matter your status, we'll have a mugshot ready for you."

As we saw Thursday night with Trump’s mug shot, he has finally been treated like every other criminal. This is a far cry from the special treatment Trump was afforded when he was charged in other jurisdictions which  waived the traditional requirement of a mugshot—also known as booking photos.

What Willis is doing is showing the nation that in Fulton County the expression “no one is above the law” is not an empty promise. Rather, it’s what should—yet often does not—guide our criminal justice system. Thankfully, Willis is offering more than lip service to this concept. She is showing the nation firsthand that no one—not even Donald Trump—is above the law. And that is the way it must be!

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