Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will soon have the opportunity to present her justification to Georgia’s highest court, arguing why she and her team should be exempt from complying with a subpoena demanding documents and testimony regarding her prosecution of former President Donald Trump.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Georgia docketed the embattled prosecutor’s appeal and set oral arguments for October.

The Senate Special Committee on Investigations, which has been examining the DA’s office for years, is keen on having Willis testify under oath about her attempts to prosecute Trump.

That committee is currently chaired by Peach State Sen. Bill Cowsert, a Republican who represents the college town of Athens. The case before the state supreme court is stylized as Willis v. Cowsert.

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In typical fashion, the Georgia Supreme Court accepted Willis’ appeal with little fanfare or attention — the docket entry is minimal.

But Willis’ recent notice of appeal sheds some light on the issues likely to take up the court’s time — namely, all of what has transpired before.

“Petitioner respectfully requests that the Clerk of this Court omit nothing from the record on appeal and transmit the entire record,” the notice filed with the Fulton County Superior Court on May 15, reads. “Petitioner further requests that all transcripts of evidence and proceedings be transmitted as part of the record on appeal.”

In betting on a favorable ruling from the state’s highest court of appeal, Willis is sidestepping the intermediary Georgia Court of Appeal. Her attorney, former governor Roy Barnes, a Democrat like Willis, successfully argued such leapfrogging is necessary in the case due to the nature of the dispute.

From the appeal notice, at length:

The Supreme Court of Georgia has jurisdiction of this case on appeal because it is an appeal from a final order of the Superior Court, and because “when a direct appeal is taken, any other judgments, rulings, or orders rendered in the case and which may affect the proceedings below may be raised on appeal and reviewed and determined by the appellate court.” Furthermore, this case involves the construction of the “Constitution of the State of Georgia” and presents questions concerning the constitutionality of a special subcommittee of the Georgia Senate’s exercise of the implied legislative subpoena power under the Georgia Constitution. This case therefore falls within the exclusive appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

Willis has long evaded the subpoenas issued by the committee.

In early March, however, Willis told Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura L. Ingram that her stonewalling had come to an end. But that compliance evidently had limits — investigators anticipated the latest effort to dodge the subpoenas later that same month.

In late March, during a meeting, a lawyer hired by the committee answered senators’ questions and detailed some areas where Willis and her office had complied while noting several areas of inquiry were still being objected to and likely to keep litigation ongoing.

The lawyer went on to say that efforts were being made to have Willis turn over a tranche of documents that had already been provided to opposing counsel in the underlying litigation as well as documents previously turned over to the U.S. House of Representatives after congressional investigators issued their own subpoenas.

“We candidly don’t know what documents they are objecting to and what documents are there,” outside counsel Josh Belinfante said.

The underlying litigation referenced during the meeting is what sounded the death knell for the district attorney’s inquiry into Trump and most of his co-defendants: the successful effort to have Willis disqualified over allegations that her romantic relationship with now-former special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest.

The focus of the committee’s investigation is how Willis spent public funds on her failed racketeering (RICO) and election interference investigation into the 45th and 47th president — and whether any funds earmarked for other purposes were improperly diverted.

Willis has fought off the committee for nearly a year now.

A subpoena was issued by the Georgia state Senate in August 2024, but appeared superfluous at first. The prosecutor was slated to appear and speak under oath at a public hearing held by the committee that September — but ultimately she was a no-show.

Then, Cowsert moved to enforce the subpoena against Willis for documents and testimony. In turn, Willis and her office filed for a permanent injunction to stop the subpoena from being enforced.

In early December 2024, attorneys for the parties argued the general issues in the case as well as for and against the possibility of Willis being held in contempt. In late December 2024, the court ruled in the committee’s favor on the basic question of the subpoena power — denying the district attorney’s request for an injunction.

In January, Willis filed a new motion relying on a wholly separate argument. She argued the 2024 subpoenas were moot and should be quashed or dismissed because the November 2024 election necessarily resulted in a brand new General Assembly being sworn in.

In February, Ingram tersely rejected that argument as “absurd.”

As for the latest volley before the Georgia Supreme Court, Cowsert expressed optimism about his committee’s chances in comments to Atlanta-based Fox affiliate WAGA.

“Nobody is above the law, including District Attorney Willis,” he said.