Federal judge approves efforts to subpoena former Trump lawyer in NC voting case
A federal judge on Thursday allowed plaintiffs in a North Carolina voting rights case to use enhanced efforts to subpoena Cleta Mitchell, an attorney connected to President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
“The record reflects that Mitchell is taking affirmative steps to avoid service,” Judge Thomas Schroeder wrote.
His order, which will allow plaintiffs to serve Mitchell by mail and email, comes after repeated unsuccessful attempts to serve her in person, prompting plaintiffs to accuse her of “actively evading service.”
Schroeder, an appointee of President George W. Bush, stopped short of explicitly compelling Mitchell to testify at trial, which is scheduled for later this month. But he did write that if she failed to appear, “plaintiffs will have the opportunity to request further remedies.”
The lawsuit, which was filed by a variety of progressive groups including Democracy NC, centers around a broad piece of Republican-crafted election legislation, Senate Bill 747, which passed in 2023. Among other provisions, the bill tightens rules around same-day registration, a change that plaintiffs say “intentionally discriminates against youth voters.”
Some of the state’s top Republican lawmakers met with Mitchell before proposing the bill, prompting plaintiffs to allege that she is a “central figure” in proving the legislation’s intent.
Mitchell, a lawyer who has spent years advocating for conservative election policy, was on the infamous phone call in which Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find him the votes he needed to win in 2020.
A grand jury in Georgia recommended charges against Mitchell for her involvement in attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, but she was not charged.
Plaintiffs in Thursday’s case asked a judge to compel her testimony because she has engaged in a “concerted effort... to evade service,” they said, noting that they unsuccessfully attempted to serve her a subpoena six times last year.
A magistrate judge later ordered Mitchell to sit for a deposition, but she has resisted further subpoena efforts for her to testify at trial, which is scheduled for later this month.
“Further attempts to personally serve Mitchell will be expensive and ultimately unsuccessful and that the only way to guarantee her appearance at trial is through a court order,” plaintiffs wrote.
In court filings, Mitchell rejected the notion that she was substantially connected to SB 747.
“Ms. Mitchell had no role in the development of the (same-day registration) provisions and there is no justification for compelling her attendance as a ‘witness’ to tell the court that she has no knowledge of any of the facts,” her lawyers wrote.
Schroeder noted in his order that this contradicted statements made in a deposition by Jim Womack, who worked for Mitchell at her conservative election policy group.
“According to Womack, Mitchell assisted with developing the slides, put together the recommendations, and helped give the presentation to the Senate committee chairs that sought changes to North Carolina’s law subject to Plaintiffs’ challenge,” he wrote.
The trial is set to begin on Oct. 20 in Winston-Salem.
The Democratic National Committee and the North Carolina Democratic Party also sued over SB 747, but settled the case earlier this year after reaching an agreement with Republicans to tweak some of the changes to same-day registration.
This story was originally published October 10, 2025 at 10:43 AM with the headline "Federal judge approves efforts to subpoena former Trump lawyer in NC voting case."
