The Fani Willis ‘Controversy’ and The Double Standards of Justice

Fani Willis, the Fulton County Georgia elected District Attorney, who is prosecuting former President Donald Trump, and 18 others, for trying to steal the 2020 election from Georgia voters is experiencing the latest example of a political hit-job against a strong woman of color. As today is the day we recognize Martin Luther King Jr., it is fitting to call this out as it shows us how far we still have to go in order to achieve both racial and gender equity in this country.

Let’s assume for argument’s sake that the allegations against DA Willis are true: DA Willis is being accused of engaging in a consensual adult relationship (it is being characterized as an “affair”) with a highly respected, experienced (Black) attorney, whom she hired, in addition to two other outside attorneys (both white), to join a team of internal prosecutors to investigate and prosecute this sweeping, not-like-any-other case.

Each of the three attorneys have been paid the same hourly rate, $250 per-hour, for work they have actually performed, however only the Black man has been criticized or scrutinized. People can and will legitimately disagree on whether $250 per hour is a reasonable rate in the context of this case. However, it should be noted that this is not the first time a local prosecutor’s office in the United States has had to enlist seasoned experts from the private sector to assist with a complex, high-profile, or unusual case.

Even the renowned Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, arguably one of the most elite local prosecutor’s offices in the country, has done this; I should know, I am the former Chief Assistant DA (the second in command). DA Willis has enlisted three highly respected private attorneys to leave their private practices, to investigate and prosecute a single, sprawling, complex, multi-defendant, high- profile case, involving particularly difficult defendants; such a task will cost money.

Additionally, it is widely known that to leave the private sector and prosecute this case, it is not like any other case because you personally will be subject to death threats, you will need to have 24/7 security, your family will be doxed, receive death threats, your home swatted, and, as is the case here, your entire life will be the subject of a colonoscopy that could not meet any standard of propriety.

Many attorneys have declined to work on the criminal and civil cases involving the former President for exactly this reason. We don’t have to look any further than Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, NY Attorney James Letitia James and Judge Tanya Chutkan (all Black) who have been subject to racist, vile, dangerous threats – all seemingly without consequence to the one responsible – to see what will happen if you take this task on.

Let’s take a step back for a minute and talk about all the things these allegations are not about. There are no allegations of sexual assault from multiple people; sleeping with and paying off a porn star while married (an actual “affair”); engaging in business fraud; trying to steal an election; violating the oath of office or to support the Constitution; there are no veiled threats to judges or prosecutors; nor has she been accused of calling prisoners patriots; or, held in contempt, to only name a few examples of the double standard that does not seem to be a disqualification for the highest office in the land.

Yet, DA Willis’ consensual relationship allegation is now the subject of controversy that some say should be disqualifying and will soon be the subject of a hearing in court. And this isn’t the first time DA Willis has been accused of an impropriety – let’s not forget the preposterous allegation that she had an affair with a gang member she had once prosecuted.

DA Willis is not the first woman of color in a leadership or powerful position to be subject to this unrealistic standard and having to prove that you are better than, worthy of, or more capable than others. We just saw the hatchet job done on Claudine Gay, the former President of Harvard College who was taken down by this mob in a matter of a few short weeks. Former President Gay, a brilliant, accomplished woman in her own right, also had troublesome answers to questions about Israel (to which she later apologized) and has been accused of plagiarism for omitting citations in her written work.

To starkly illustrate this double standard, the billionaire donor largely credited for being the financial leverage forcing Gay’s ouster, is married to another brilliant woman, who is also being accused of plagiarizing her doctoral dissertation, without criticism or consequence. As more and more women of color are elected to office, especially as prosecutors, one can’t help but notice the criticism and backlash they have faced in ways their white male counterparts have not – for example, former DA Marilyn Mosby in Baltimore, former DA Kim Gardner in Missouri, soon-to-be former State Attorney Kim Foxx in Chicago, former State Attorney Aramis Ayala in Florida, Sherry Boston in DeKalb County Georgia, to name just a few.

These are all prosecutors who ran on progressive and reform-minded platforms, so they knew and expected to face pushback and criticism from the traditional law and order proponents. And, almost every one of these women have been either forced out or driven out of office. Their white male progressive counterparts, on the other hand, were not subject to the same scrutiny. See Larry Krasner in Philadelphia, or Cyrus Vance, Jr., my old boss in Manhattan.

I can hear the “yes buts” coming for each of the above examples – and there are legitimate criticisms of them all, like any elected office holder - after all nobody is perfect. However, what is happening to DA Willis is an effort to take her down at all costs so those who tried to steal an election will never have to be held to account. Historically our criminal justice system has been led by white men, incarcerating, almost exclusively, generations of Black men. And, historically if a Black defendant, with 4 pending criminal indictments, in 4 different jurisdictions, both state and federal, with access to his own private jet and could flee anywhere in the world, posted on social media a baseball bat next to a photo of his white prosecutor, while also calling for death and destruction, that defendant would be incarcerated during the pendency of his prosecution.

Instead of calling out threats, calls for violence, improper attacks, and violations of court orders, we are instead clutching our pearls because two Black professionals have allegedly deigned to engage in a consensual relationship. We need to lift up, support and thank, excellent and strong women, like Fani Willis, who has devoted her life to serve the people of Fulton County Georgia, and not hold her to a different standard than others.

We have no idea whether or not the allegations against DA Willis are true, however, if they are they do not amount to any legal conflict of interest that could impact the case; at most they amount to an HR issue for the Fulton County DA’s office.

Karen Friedman Agnifilo served as Chief Assistant District Attorney of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. She is the co-host of Legal AF podcast on the MeidasTouch Network and a CNN Contributor.