Classified Documents | Special Counsel Asks Justice to Reinstate Case Against Trump

(Washington) Special counsel Jack Smith asked a federal appeals court Monday to reinstate the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump, which was dismissed by a judge last month.

District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case, one of four lawsuits against Donald Trump, after finding that Mr Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional.

Mr Smith’s team then appealed to the 11^e U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta, with prosecutors arguing in their appellate brief that Judge Cannon’s decision was “at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices within the Justice Department and across the government.”

The appeal is the latest development in a prosecution that many legal experts consider a straightforward criminal case but has been derailed by delays, months of hearings before Mr.^me Cannon, a judge appointed by Mr. Trump himself, and ultimately a dismissal order that put the proceedings at least temporarily on hold.

It is unclear how long it will take the appeals court to decide the issue, but even if it overturns Mr^me Cannon and revive the prosecution, there is no chance of a trial before the November presidential election and Mr. Trump, if elected, could appoint an attorney general who would wrap up the case once and for all.

It includes dozens of criminal charges that Mr. Trump illegally stored classified documents during his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and obstructed government efforts to retrieve them. He has pleaded not guilty.

Mr. Smith was appointed as a special prosecutor in November 2022 by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Mr. Trump’s handling of the documents as well as his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election before the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.

Both investigations resulted in criminal charges, though the election subversion prosecutions face an uncertain future after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month that gave Donald Trump broad immunity and narrowed the scope of the case.

Defense lawyers in the classified documents case had argued that Mr. Smith’s appointment violated the Constitution’s Appointments Clause, a motion that prompted Judge Cannon to hold a multi-day hearing in June.

The judge sided with the defense, saying that no specific law authorized Mr. Garland’s appointment of Mr. Smith and that Mr. Smith was illegally appointed because he had not been nominated to the position by the president or confirmed by the Senate.

Mr. Smith’s team should point out that special counsel appointments have been repeatedly upheld by judges in multiple cases and that the ability of an attorney general to appoint a special counsel is well established.