(LibertySons.org) – Former president Donald Trump’s legal worries have been reduced after a federal judge threw out the classified document case against him. The Biden administration isn’t giving up yet, though. The Justice Department plans to appeal the dismissal, even though it now has little hope of bringing the case to trial before November’s election.
Judge Cannon Dismissed Classified Documents Case
On July 15, US District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the Department of Justice’s document mishandling case against Trump. Cannon ruled that Attorney General Merrick Garland didn’t have the authority to appoint Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has been spearheading the prosecution of allegations that when Trump left office in 2021, he illegally took classified documents from the White House and stored them in his Mar-A-Lago home. Her decision followed a challenge from Trump’s legal team, who argued that Smith’s appointment violated the Constitution because Congress and the Senate didn’t create his post and didn’t confirm him for the job.
Cannon’s ruling was a huge boost for Trump, following close behind a Supreme Court decision that presidents have partial immunity for actions they carried out as part of their official duties. That decision threatens to bring down another case Smith is pushing against Trump, which is related to alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election result.
On July 17, two days after Cannon threw out the document case, Smith filed a notice of appeal with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Atlanta-based court has clashed with Cannon before over the Trump case; in 2022, she appointed an independent reviewer to examine the documents seized from Mar-A-Lago, but the appeal court reversed that decision. Now, Smith is hoping the 11th Circuit will veto her dismissal.
Legal Battle Could Escalate
Smith and the Justice Department have a simple argument: They say it’s become common practice to appoint special counsels to handle investigations with political implications. There’s no doubt this is true; both parties have used special counsels to investigate their opponents. The fact it’s become accepted doesn’t mean it’s constitutional, though. Current rules on special counsels were written by Attorney General Janet Reno in 1999, under the Clinton administration, and based on the Supreme Court’s acceptance of special counsel Leon Jaworski being appointed to investigate the Watergate scandal. However, Cannon argues that the Jaworski decision was “unpersuasive,” and future special counsels were appointed without any fresh legal analysis.
If neither side backs down, this fight could go all the way to the Supreme Court. If it does, that might be good news for Trump; Justice Clarence Thomas has already queried the legitimacy of Smith’s appointment. It could also radically change the way high-profile investigations are handled from now on.
~Here’s to Our Liberty!
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