A judge based in Atlanta, Georgia, will hear arguments Tuesday and eventually decide if an investigative report looking into the 2020 election will see the light of day.
On Monday, Axios reported that Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney would hear arguments and then determine if a report by a special grand jury investigating allegations that former President Donald Trump and his allies interfered in the 2020 election.
A lawsuit brought by local and national media seeks to make the special grand jury's report public before Fulton County District Attorney Fanni Willis, who empaneled the body, decides whether to file criminal charges in the case.
Willis will reportedly use the findings to make that determination.
The special grand jury spent eight months hearing testimony form a variety of notable personnel — including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, and Trump lawyer and adviser, Rudy Giuliani, among many others.
According to the lawsuit filed by media outlets, the special grand jury completed and turned in the report on Jan. 9 and voted to make it public.
Tuesday’s hearing is scheduled to determine if the report is considered a "court record," and therefore must be made public, according to the lawsuit.
Also, Axios reports that the media outlets claim, in their brief to the court, the matter has "enormous public interest not just to Georgians, but also to citizens throughout the United States."
According to the report, Trump's legal team will not be involved in the hearing. They're also reportedly confident the dispute will not lead to criminal charges against the former president.
"Therefore, we can assume that the grand jury did their job and looked at the facts and the law, as we have, and concluded there were no violations of the law by President Trump," the Trump legal team said in a statement to Axios.
One legal expert said that releasing the report, however, puts Willis in a difficult position.
"If the report says there have been certain crimes and certain persons should be prosecuted and she doesn't prosecute them, it’s going to come back to hurt her — and vice versa," J. Tom Morgan, a former DeKalb County district attorney and law professor at Western Carolina University, told the news outlet.
Georgia attorney Don Samuel, who is representing the state legislature in the matter, told Axios that individuals noted in the report may be charged with a crime. As such, they should be able to redact their information — until Willis makes a final charging decision.
"The question is: Is [Judge] McBurney going to give the individuals a chance to, in private, say how they want it redacted so that they're not publicly disgraced?" Samuel said to Axios.
"I think if there are any individuals designated in that report and accused of certain crimes, they have an absolute right to have that redacted, certainly until they are indicted for those crimes," added Samuel.
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