A coalition of media outlets is asking the Georgia Supreme Court to reconsider a decision that blocked the full release of a Fulton County special grand jury report, which includes recommendations for whether former President Donald Trump or any of his associates should face criminal charges for their efforts to undermine the 2020 election.
A lower court order blocking most of the report’s release “prevented the public and press from reading the full Report even though it addresses a subject of paramount public concern to this state and nation: possible wrongdoing in connection with the US Presidential election of 2020, including possible wrongdoing by the then sitting US President,” the media coalition, which includes CNN, argued Friday in a court filing.
The Georgia Supreme Court can decide whether or not to take up the appeal, which comes after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney released snippets of the report earlier this month.
But McBurney, who oversaw the special grand jury, decided to keep the vast majority of the document under seal, including recommendations for who should face criminal charges.
McBurney wrote in his decision that it was a matter of “fundamental fairness” to keep the special grand jury’s conclusions under wraps to protect the rights of potential defendants and others named in the report.
“Here, however, for anyone named in the special purpose grand jury’s final report who was not afforded the opportunity to appear before the grand jury, none of those due process rights has been satisfied,” McBurney wrote in his February order. “And for those who did appear – willingly or not – only the right to be heard (although without counsel or rebuttal) was protected.”
The media coalition argued Friday that the special grand jury’s report constitutes a court document primed for public…
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