Judge Dismisses Jack Smith’s Classified Documents Case Against Trump on Constitutional Grounds
Judge Aileen Cannon of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division, dismissed on Monday Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case against former President Donald Trump on the grounds that “Smith’s appointment violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.”
Additionally, Cannon writes Smith’s “use of a permanent indefinite appropriation also violates the Appropriations Clause,” which, she adds, “prohibits any money from being ‘drawn from the Treasury’ unless such funding has been appropriated by an act of Congress.”
“[I]s there a statute in the United States Code that authorizes the appointment of Special Counsel Smith to conduct this prosecution?,” the judge asks in her opinion. “After careful study of this seminal issue, the answer is no.”
Cannon continues:
None of the statutes cited as legal authority for the appointment— 28 U.S.C. §§ 509, 510, 515, 533—gives the Attorney General broad inferior-officer appointing power or bestows upon him the right to appoint a federal officer with the kind of prosecutorial power wielded by Special Counsel Smith. Nor do the Special Counsel’s strained statutory arguments, appeals to inconsistent history, or reliance on out-of-circuit authority persuade otherwise.
Trump was accused of collecting a cache of confidential documents at his Mar-a-Lago home. The New York Post described Cannon’s dismissal as “stunning.”
Another curveball to influence this election. I bp celebrate her for her legal reasoning and bravery in issuing a ruling that is going to put her in the middle of a firestorm. thank goodness that she did defer to the requests of her publicity seeking “elders” to excuse herself from the case. This opinion is going to be dissected word by word, but as a non -lawyer what I have read and heard discussed makes it appear to me that the ruling is based on solid law. Another power grab by the executive branch derailed, fantastic sequel to Chevron Deference reversal by the Supremes.