Dem
51
GOP
49
The sprawling Georgia RICO indictment has been handed to a newbie judge, Scott McAfee, who was appointed to the Fulton County Superior Court by Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) earlier this year. A huge complication is that McAfee has to face the voters in 2024, in a blue county, to keep his job. Campaigning and managing what might be the most important case in the history of Georgia at the same time will keep the judge quite busy this year and next. On the other hand, he will not want for publicity, especially if the trial is televised. And that is a virtual certainty. The judge loves publicity so much that he has his own YouTube channel although it doesn't appear to have any content at the moment. If McAfee demonstrates that he is an honest and fair judge, he may not need to do anything else.
Did Trump luck out here? Probably not. McAfee has lived his whole life in Georgia. He was born in Kennesaw, GA, and has never lived outside the state. He got his bachelors degree at Emory University in Atlanta, where he double majored in music and political science, and his J.D. from the University of Georgia. He worked for 2.5 years as an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Georgia. He also worked as an assistant D.A. in Fulton County where he handled many felony cases. He spent 2 years as an inspector general, rooting out corruption. In short, most of his career has been as a prosecutor. Kemp appointed him because he is tough on crime. As a judge with a long background as a prosecutor, he is likely to be more inclined to believe what the prosecutors tell him, rather than what the defense lawyers tell him, especially if there are 19 of them, one per defendant, each with his or her own story.
So far, Donald Trump hasn't attacked him, so we don't know how he will react when that happens. Also, it is not known whether or not McAfee is, or is not, a fan of Speed Racer. (V)