Georgia's Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was previously subpoenaed by a Republican-led special committee of the state Senate to provide documents and testify about her ongoing effort to criminally prosecute former President Donald Trump and others over alleged election interference in 2020.

On Tuesday, a judge denied an emergency request from Willis to prevent the committee from enforcing the two subpoenas against her, according to local Fox affiliate WAGA.

The judge denied the motion from the DA because it was not the proper way to block the subpoenas as well as because the hearing she was supposed to attend had already occurred, but did leave open the possibility that Willis could file an appropriate motion to "quash" the subpoena if the committee attempted to enforce it at a later date.

Willis defied committee subpoenas, refused to appear at hearing

According to the Associated Press, DA Willis defied two subpoenas issued by the State Senate Special Committee on Investigations to provide relevant documents and testify at a hearing that was held last Friday that she did not appear at.

She was slated to answer questions from state senators about "alleged misconduct" involving her investigation and prosecution of former President Trump and others, but since she skipped the hearing the committee instead heard testimony from legal experts who confirmed that the committee has the authority to issue and enforce subpoenas for testimony and the production of requested documents.

At the end of the hearing, Committee Chair Sen. Bill Cowsert (R) said, "Let's please note for the record that Ms. Willis has failed to appear in compliance with the subpoena and has failed to produce documents requested," and added that the committee had hired outside attorneys to aid them in potentially enforcing the subpoenas.

In addition to her testimony, the committee had asked Willis to turn over various documents pertaining to her questionable relationship with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade, as well as any communications with the White House or the Department of Justice about her case against Trump.

In the motion filed to block the subpoenas with a temporary restraining order, the DA's lawyers asserted that the demands were "overbroad and not reasonably tailored to a legitimate legislative need," that they dealt with "confidential and privileged information," and that they threatened to undermine the ongoing prosecution of the former president.

Motion to block subpoenas denied

Atlanta News First reported that Fulton County Judge Shukura Ingram denied DA Willis' request for an injunction or restraining order against the committee on Tuesday because the request was no longer "justified" in light of what had occurred days earlier.

Given that the committee had never taken action to enforce the subpoenas and the hearing had already happened, the judge noted that there was "no longer an emergency," as well as that "the proper procedure for challenging a subpoena is to file a motion to quash."

That said, Ingram noted that if the committee did attempt to enforce the subpoenas at a later date, she would give due consideration to a properly filed motion to quash the subpoenas, per WAGA.

Willis previously made her defiance of the committee known

DA Willis' refusal to comply with the committee's subpoenas was not particularly surprising, as she had previously expressed her defiance of the Republican-led committee and questioned its claimed authority over her, according to Atlanta News First.

"First of all, I don’t even think they have the authority to subpoena me, but they need to learn the law," the prosecutor said in May. "I will not appear to anything that is unlawful, and I have not broken the law in any way. I’m sorry folks get pissed off that everybody gets treated evenly."

The outlet noted that this is the first time in Georgia's history that anybody has defied a state Senate committee subpoena.