A crucial decision in the Georgia Trump case looms for this novice judge

It was probably an awkward moment for Judge Scott McAfee.

At a hearing in Atlanta last month, he admonished his former boss, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis, during her combative appearance on the witness stand. Ms. Willis, who was fighting allegations that threatened her hold on the election interference case against former President Donald J. Trump, had become so irritated with a lawyer that she began expressing her frustration directly to the judge.

“I have to warn you,” the mild-mannered Fulton County Superior Court Judge McAfee told her. “We have to listen to the questions that are being asked. And if this happens again and again, I will have no choice but to undermine your testimony.”

Mrs. Willis’ whirlwind subsided as she waved her hand in annoyance.

Now Judge McAfee, who at 34 is too young to be president himself, is preparing for a high-stakes decision in the Georgia case against the former president and fourteen of his allies: whether Ms. Willis should be disqualified from the fact that there is a romance she had with Nathan Wade, the lawyer she hired to manage the case, created an intolerable conflict of interest.

Legal experts generally agree that Ms. Willis used poor judgment in paying public funds to a romantic partner while also at least partially paying for the vacations they took together — the basis for the defense argument that she engaged in ‘self-dealing’.

Opinions differ, however, on whether her actions created a legitimate conflict of interest — and on whether even the appearance of a conflict is enough to disqualify the district attorney and her entire office.

Barely a year on the bench, the even-keeled Judge McAfee adheres to textualism, a general legal philosophy that follows the law as written, rather than predicting divine intent. During the Trump case, he kept things moving and did what he could to lower the temperature.

Ms. Willis and her team of prosecutors tried to convince him not to hold hearings on the disqualification; she described the hearings as a “ticket to the circus” and reminded the court and public during her testimony that the case against Mr. Trump had not changed. He and 18 of his allies were charged last August with trying to undermine the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia; Four suspects have already pleaded guilty.

But Judge McAfee believed the allegations were serious enough to proceed with hearings that proved explosive and revealed intimate details of Ms Willis’ personal life. The hearings focused on when the relationship began and whether Ms. Willis and Ms. Wade lied when they said the relationship began after she hired him. Another central question was whether the two plaintiffs shared the costs of their vacation.

Last week, the Trump case became crucial to Judge McAfee’s future on the bench when a Democratic challenger in his re-election campaign emerged and immediately criticized his handling of the disqualification issue. The opponent, Robert Patillo, is a local radio host and activist affiliated with the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, founded by Jesse Jackson.

In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Patillo, 39, said Judge McAfee’s lack of experience had caused him to mismanage the case. “The court has turned this from one of the most solemn prosecutions of a former president into a daily reality show — something you would see on ‘Real Housewives,’” he said.

Judge McAfee declined to comment for this article.

The judge was appointed last year by Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, to fill a vacancy. Incumbent judges typically have an electoral advantage because voters often do not focus on judicial races. But as a Republican appointee in heavily Democratic Fulton County, he appears to be taking nothing for granted.

He gave an interview to a local radio host on Thursday evening and assured listeners that the emergence of a political opponent would not affect his decision whether to disqualify Ms Willis, a decision he said he had already made.

“I’ve had a rough draft and an outline before I ever heard a rumor that anyone wanted to run for this position, so the outcome won’t change because of politics,” he said on WSB Atlanta. “I call it the best I can in the law, as I understand it.”

Judge McAfee grew up in Kennesaw, a suburb of Atlanta. At Emory, the elite private university in Atlanta, he studied political science and music and led Emory College Republicans, a student group.

He is an accomplished cellist. After Judge McAfee was assigned to the Trump case last summer, a number of news outlets emerged marked An online video of him, as a teenager, playing Bach on an acoustic cello and then switching to an electric cello for a stirring Jimi Hendrix-esque version of the national anthem. A bandana was tied loosely around his head.

In early 2010, he attended law school at the University of Georgia, where he was a high-achieving student, competitor in mock legal contests, and officeholder on the campus Federalist Society, the conservative legal network founded in the Reagan era to push back against what it calls it ‘orthodox liberal ideology’.

Elizabeth Stell, a fellow law student who competed with Judge McAfee in mock trials, described his courtroom style at the time as “not overly flashy or overly emotional.”

“He was just very thoughtful in his argument, very well researched and just very well put together and controlled,” she said. “And stylish, to be honest.”

Anthony Michael Kreis, an assistant professor of law at Georgia State University who was earning his doctorate at the University of Georgia at the time, remembers Judge McAfee as serious but not strident in his political views.

“We had more conservation actions and debates about Twizzlers vs. Red Vines and which is the better candy,” Mr. Kreis said.

Judge McAfee interned for two state Supreme Court justices, Keith Blackwell and David Nahmias, both Republican appointees who influenced his approach. He later went to work for the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, where as a deputy prosecutor he handled cases including armed robbery and murder.

His supervisor in the trial department was Mrs. Willis. He also worked with Adam Abbate, the prosecutor who selected Ms. Willis to deliver closing arguments during the disqualification hearings. Ms. Willis left a reminder during her testimony that both men once worked directly for her, as she explained that she kept her private life private.

“When I supervised Mr. Abbate and Mr. McAfee, they didn’t know who I was dating, but I can assure you I was dating someone,” she said.

Judge McAfee later worked for officials who came into contact with Mr. Trump. In 2019, he became an assistant United States attorney in Atlanta. The office was led by Byung J. Pak, a Republican who resigned in January 2021 after learning that Trump wanted to fire him for not supporting his claims of election fraud.

Weeks later, Judge McAfee was appointed state inspector general by Governor Kemp, who would also face Mr. Trump’s wrath for refusing to help overturn his narrow loss to Joseph R. Biden in Georgia.

An important issue for the judge to address in his upcoming ruling is the standard for disqualification under Georgian law. At a hearing last month, he said disqualification could occur if evidence shows even the appearance of a conflict of interest. Ms. Willis’ office asked him to reconsider, arguing that a higher standard — proof of a “real” conflict — should be the bar.

Whatever he decides, Judge McAfee has already earned the respect of several legal experts. Among them is Norman Eisen, who served as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment. Mr. Eisen has been vocal in his support of the Georgia prosecutor and has argued that there are no legal grounds to disqualify Ms. Willis.

But he has also called on Mr. Wade to resign, and defended Judge McAfee’s decision to hold hearings on the case.

“He is one of the most capable new judges I have ever seen, and he has navigated an extremely challenging situation with grace and intelligence,” Mr. Eisen said.

Judge McAfee made it clear last week that he is considering how his decision will be viewed in posterity.

“I have two children, five and three,” he said in the radio interview. “They’re too young to have any idea what’s going on or what I’m doing. But what I’m looking forward to one day is that maybe they’ll grow up a little and ask me about it. And I look forward to looking them in the eye and telling them I played fair and did my best.”

Kitty Bennett contributed research.