U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has set up the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case in such a way that not only is its future dependent on whether former President Donald Trump wins in November, but her own could be too, wrote former federal prosecutor Harry Litman for the Los Angeles Times.
This comes shortly after Cannon, a Trump appointee who has generated constant controversy for slow-walking and tilting various aspects of the charges against Trump to apparently benefit him, held a hearing this week on whether to declare special counsel Jack Smith's appointment unlawful — as well as dragging out and threatening to deny the process of imposing a gag order on Trump, which Litman has already argued could give Smith what he needs to appeal her conduct to a higher court.
It also comes after new reporting that Cannon was privately asked by multiple senior judicial colleagues to bow out of the case and let someone more experienced handle it, which she refused.
"Cannon’s mischief-making in the civil case included her appointment of a special master to sift through the seized documents based on Trump’s claim of executive privilege. That shackled the Justice Department in an unprecedented fashion and drew criticism from legal experts of all ideological stripes," wrote Litman. "It took two decisions excoriating Cannon by the conservative 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to shut down her misadventure. Those two strikes against the judge arguably put her oversight of the case at real risk if she draws another rebuke from the appellate court."
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Ultimately, her delays have ensured that the trial can only take place after the election — and Trump is widely expected to order the Justice Department to drop the case against himself if he wins. A Trump loss, on the other hand, would do more than just keep the case going, Litman concluded, but also mean Cannon must continue in a role that is drawing her increased scrutiny and criticism from even members of her own judicial district.
"Cannon’s obduracy was a forewarning of her bizarre and almost ludicrously pro-Trump handling of the case," wrote Litman. "The latest reporting on Cannon confirms that she is willing to invite the deep disrespect of the community that normally determines a judge’s professional standing. If Trump wins in November, she has every reason to expect the gamble to pay large rewards. If he loses, she has every reason to expect to go down with the ship. It’s a risk she appears determined to run."
