In July, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows asked the Supreme Court to move his 2020 election-related racketeering case in Georgia from state court to federal court, where he intends to argue that he would be immune from state-level prosecution as a former federal official.

Georgia's Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has now approached the Supreme Court with a request of her own for the justices to deny Meadows' petition for a venue change, Atlanta News First reported.

Meadows was charged by Willis alongside 17 others, including former President Donald Trump, over an alleged criminal conspiracy to interfere with and alter the results of Georgia's presidential election results in 2020.

Willis aims to block move to federal court

CNN reported that former WH Chief of Staff Meadows cited in his Supreme Court petition a mid-1800s federal statute intended to protect federal officials from state-level prosecution in support of his request to remove his case from state to federal court in Georgia.

He had already pleaded not guilty to the state charges and, if moved to federal court, plans to argue that he is immune from state-level prosecution, because of both the existing statute as well as the high court's decision in July on presidential immunity, which he asserts extends to him in his former role as the president's top aide and advisor.

DA Willis has argued otherwise and insisted that Meadows' case should remain in state court and that he is not immune from prosecution because his alleged criminal acts were committed in a private and unofficial capacity and not as part of his official duties as the WH chief of staff.

In a 40-page brief filed on Thursday, Willis said that Meadows had "repeatedly admitted to engaging in activities on behalf of the Trump campaign" in the aftermath of the 2020 election and that his concerns about being targeted by "unscrupulous prosecutors" were "hypothetical" and unfounded.

Meadows' request to the Supreme Court followed a rejection by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals last year, when a panel ruled that the cited statute authorizing removal to federal court didn't apply to him as a "former" federal official who was no longer in office, even though he was still a federal official when the alleged crimes for which he's been indicted occurred.

Is Meadows entitled to presidential immunity?

CNN noted that in addition to the old federal statute protecting federal officials from state prosecution, Meadows and his attorneys repeatedly cited the Supreme Court's recent ruling on presidential immunity as also granting him protection from state-level prosecution.

His petition in July stated that "a White House chief of staff facing criminal charges based on actions relating to his work for the president of the United States should not be a close call -- especially now that this court has recognized that federal immunity impacts what evidence can be considered, not just what conduct can form the basis for liability."

It is unclear if the Supreme Court will take up Meadows' petition or how the justices might rule on it, but at least one former federal prosecutor, Joyce Vance, thinks he has a decent chance at finding success among the conservative-leaning majority of jurists, according to Newsweek.

In her legal blog, the vehemently anti-Trump Vance surmised, "If the Supreme Court agrees to take this case, it will be a major one, offering the possibility, if the Court is so inclined, that it might extend coattails from last term's grant of broad presidential immunity to Donald Trump to his coconspirators."

Things aren't going well for Willis

If Meadows is able to get his case removed from state to federal court, it would represent yet another significant blow to DA Willis' prosecutorial effort against former President Trump and his allies, per Atlanta News First.

The case is already on hold because of revelations about Willis' undisclosed romantic relationship with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade, a judge has dismissed multiple charges against Trump and others, one would-be defendant has been ruled completely immune from charges by a state committee, and Willis faces potential trouble of her own for defying a legislative subpoena and open records requests.