The federal classified documents case against former President Donald Trump was dismissed Monday by a Florida judge on the grounds that the Department of Justice unlawfully appointed special counsel Jack Smith.
The order, while likely to be appealed, makes the possibility even more remote that Trump will be tried before the election on any of the federal charges pending against him. The order came on the first day of the Republican National Convention, during which Trump will be officially nominated as the 2024 GOP presidential candidate.
Trump, who on Saturday was injured at a Pennsylvania rally in what is being investigated as an attempted assassination, has also been federally charged in Washington, D.C., for his alleged attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential election results. The case is pending as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision.
In May, Trump was convicted of 34 felonies in New York state court for falsifying business records related to a hush money payment ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump’s sentencing has been delayed until September while the court reviews the federal immunity decision.
In Monday’s 93-page order, federal District Judge Aileen Cannon wrote Smith’s appointment violates two clauses of the U.S. Constitution that govern how presidential administrations and Congress appoint and approve “Officers of the United States” and how taxpayer money can be used to pay their salaries and other expenses.
“Upon careful study of the foundational challenges raised in the Motion, the Court is convinced that Special Counsel’s Smith’s prosecution of this action breaches two structural cornerstones of our constitutional scheme—the role of Congress in the appointment of constitutional officers, and the role of Congress in authorizing expenditures by law,” wrote Cannon, who sits on the bench in the Southern District of Florida.
She was nominated by Trump in 2020 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate later that year.
In February, Trump’s team filed the motion to dismiss the case, accusing Smith of being unlawfully appointed and paid.
The classified documents case against Trump presented a historic first for the United States — a former sitting president had never been charged with federal crimes.
A federal grand jury handed up a 37-count indictment in June 2023 charging the former president and his aide Walt Nauta with felonies related to mishandling classified documents after his term in office, including storing them at his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate.
A little over a month later a new indictment was handed up, adding new charges against the former president and also adding Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira as a co-defendant.
Cannon’s order dismisses the July 2023 superseding indictment.
The court will now close the case and cancel any scheduled hearings. Any pending motions are considered moot, according to Cannon’s order.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement Monday that the “breathtakingly misguided ruling flies in the face of long-accepted practice and repetitive judicial precedence.”
“It is wrong on the law and must be appealed immediately. This is further evidence that Judge Cannon cannot handle this case impartially and must be reassigned,” the New York Democrat said.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
The article in this post was originally published on Tennessee Lookout and parts of it are included here under a Creative Commons license CC BY-ND 4.0
