Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is used to prosecuting high-profile, challenging cases. But as she parried questions about her own personal conduct from the witness stand against the legal teams for defendants her office has accused of election interference, many Black women recognized a dispiriting scene.
鈥淚t absolutely feels familiar. There is no secret that the common sentiment among Black women in positions of power (is that they) must over-perform to be seen as equals to their counterparts," said Jessica T. Ornsby, a family litigation attorney in the Washington, D.C., area.
鈥淗ere, Ms. Willis is being scrutinized for things that are not directly related to her job performance, in ways we see other Black women regularly picked apart,鈥 Ornsby said.
Willis testified during an extraordinary hearing that could result in her office being removed from the state鈥檚 against former President . She was questioned Thursday about her relationship with the attorney leading her office鈥檚 prosecution, Nathan Wade.
Willis and Wade have acknowledged they had a 鈥 鈥 but have denied any improper conduct.
Regardless of the legal merits of the claim by Trump and his co-defendants that Willis' conduct was improper, relationships between coworkers are often prohibited or must be disclosed in many workplaces, including at major private law firms. Willis has faced criticism from many legal experts otherwise supportive of the case due to her relationship with Wade.
Still, few people who find themselves in such circumstances have the most intimate details of their lives aired so publicly.
In interviews with The Associated Press, many Black women leaders expressed frustration and disappointment that public attention had turned from the merits of the criminal case to the personal conduct of the Black woman overseeing the prosecution. For them, the court challenge to Willis echoes familiar experiences of tests of their authority, competence and character.
鈥淚 love that she stood up for herself, but I hate the fact that she had to," said Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the 春色直播 Coalition on Black Civic Participation. She said that when she saw video of the testimony she felt: 鈥淲hy are you all treating her like SHE鈥橲 on trial?鈥
鈥淏lack women feel like we鈥檙e under attack. And that鈥檚 a fact," Campbell said.
Willis, who has a reputation as an incisive trial attorney, was visibly upset when she took the stand Thursday to reject allegations that she improperly profited from the prosecution because of the relationship.
鈥淚t is a lie,鈥 the district attorney said of allegations in court filings.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e been intrusive into people鈥檚 personal lives. You鈥檙e confused. You think I鈥檓 on trial,鈥 Willis testified. 鈥淭hese people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020. I鈥檓 not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial.鈥
For many Black women, the inquiries into Willis' romantic and financial life were rife with tropes and accusations often unfairly levied at Black women.
Keir Bradford-Grey, a partner at the law firm Montgomery McCracken in Philadelphia, found the questions about Willis' personal life 鈥渄isgusting.鈥 She also said the episode had disturbing implications for Black women in leadership roles: 鈥淚 can鈥檛 imagine a world where we have to continue to be treated like this as we seek leadership roles, and we do them well."
LaTosha Brown, co-founder of voting rights group Black Voters Matter, despaired of the fact that Willis was having to answer questions about 鈥渨hether she has money, whether she has cash or not and why she has cash, who she sleeps with, who is she flying on an airplane with.鈥
鈥淪o, what is this really about?鈥 Brown added. 鈥淲hen white power, particularly white men, are being held to account ... the first thing to do is to disqualify the people that are holding them accountable,鈥 especially when those people are Black women.
Scrutiny of Willis' personal life has diverted attention away from the allegations against Trump.
He has been in the last year, accused in Georgia and Washington, D.C., of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, in Florida of , and in Manhattan of falsifying business records related to hush money paid to porn actor Stormy Daniels on his behalf. Trump has railed against individual prosecutors, judges and the legal system as a whole. But he reserves special, often coded rhetoric for his attacks on women and people of color.
鈥淒onald Trump knows that he can make an easy target for his base out of a Black woman," said Brittany Packnett Cunningham, a racial equality activist and podcast host. 鈥淲hat we should recognize is that across many indictments, this particular attack to disqualify through her personal activities is uniquely pointed. Of all the prosecutions that he has endured, this is not the approach he has taken. But he took that in particular with a Black woman.鈥
The testimony from Willis also reminded many of similar public questioning of Black women's leadership, including the recent ouster of and the confirmation hearings for .
鈥淚mages from the court proceedings also reflect many of our day-to-day experiences: defending ourselves against a sea of individuals who do not share our background and harbor biases both implicit and explicit," Ornsby said.
On Friday, Willis' . While the court weighs whether she will be disqualified from the criminal case, it remains largely in limbo.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not talking about the things that actually matter, which include, but are not limited to bringing this country at least a tiny step back from the brink of fascism. No, instead we鈥檙e evaluating a Black woman鈥檚 looks, character and professionalism when all she did was do her job,鈥 Cunningham said.
鈥淭he standards by which they are judged, with their actions scrutinized at every turn, just seem to be a little different, not a little, a lot different than what I see of our male counterparts,鈥 Bradford-Grey said. 鈥淚 wish there would be a day that women stand together and say we want the same bar of treatment that men get.鈥
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Matt Brown is a member of the AP鈥檚 Race and Ethnicity team. Follow him on .
