It seems like Judge Aileen Cannon is just making it up as she goes along.
On Monday, the Trump-appointed district judge threw out Trump’s entire classified documents case, seemingly using one concurring opinion from the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling as justification to do so. In her 93-page ruling, Cannon ruled that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith violated the Constitution—drawing outrage from legal scholars and reporters alike.
“Just to be crystal clear: SCOTUS has upheld special counsels repeatedly,” wrote Chris Hates on X. “Cannon is a district court judge, her job is to apply controlling precedent. She’s doing this because she thinks the MAGA court is on the same page as her and Trump’s lawyers and will go along.”
Instead of honoring precedent, Cannon seems to have relied on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion in the immunity ruling earlier this month. In that decision, Thomas was the only judge to make the argument that the Department of Justice misstepped in its special appointment of Jack Smith. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which has struck down Cannon’s decisions in the past, will take up her decision next.
Regardless of how the federal courts rule, Cannon will still get to hand Trump a win by continuing to delay Trump’s trial, as she has done for the past 18 months.
One person who isn’t mad? Donald Trump himself. On Truth Social, Trump wrote that the dismissal “should be just the first step,” calling all the cases against him scams, hoaxes, and “Political Attacks,” and further pressing for the “dismissal of ALL witch hunts” against him.
