Jeff Clark, a former official at the Trump Justice Department, recently appealed to the 11th Circuit of the order that transferred him back to Georgia court. Also known as “the Oil Spill”, Clark is indeed facing state RICO charges alongside Donald Trump, Mark Meadows, and 13 other individuals who deny the election results. He recently filed a motion claiming his entitlement to stay his criminal remand under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The details are documented in an appeal Clark noticed.
Over the past several months, Clark has been utilizing an unusual terminology for his case, referring to it as a “civil-criminal hybrid”. This might just be part of his strategic attempt to avail himself of the civil removal standard under 28 USC § 1446(d), which, if applied, automatically stays the state action. The full story expands on Clark’s unique approach to defend his case.
Unfortunately, Clark’s argument didn’t hold up in court. The court stated Clark’s assertion couldn’t be justified when they remanded the order. They highlighted that (1) the Northern District of Georgia agreed that the special purpose grand subpoena is indeed a criminal entity, (2) the work of the SPGJ ended in December, leaving nothing for Clark to challenge, and (3) Clark hadn’t managed to cite any legal authority supporting his claim to challenge a SPGJ, especially not a disbanded one, in federal court.
Clark has now insisted on an automatic 30-day stay of the criminal remand under Rule 62 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Clark argues that the court may have been confused due to its failure to enter a final judgment as outlined in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(a). Instead, they recorded the remand letter and closed the case.
Ultimately, Clark took ten days, following the September 29 criminal remand, to assert his statutory right to an automatic 30-day stay under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Now, he wishes for the court to decide on his petition for stay within four days, allowing him to proceed with his emergency appeal to the Eleventh Circuit. Clark’s insistent defense and the full details of his case are available on the State of Georgia v. Clark docket.
This summary is an overview of a more comprehensive article written by prominent legal journalist Elizabeth Dye, which can be found here.