Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the Mar-a-Lago documents case against former president Donald Trump, has dismissed the case, citing a violation of the appointments clause.
BREAKING: Judge Cannon has dismissed the Trump documents case, citing violation of appointments clause: pic.twitter.com/GPV9jXYAfZ
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 15, 2024
The judge granted the Trump defense team's motion in a shocking move on Monday morning.
"The Superseding Indictment is DISMISSED because Special Counsel Smith’s appointment violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution," her order states. "Special Counsel Smith’s use of a permanent indefinite appropriation also violates the Appropriations Clause [...] but the Court need not address proper remedy for that funding violation given the dismissal on Appointments Clause grounds. The effect of this Order is confined to this proceeding."
Cannon, who has butted heads with the prosecution before, laid out the case that his appointment and use of authority exceeded Constitutional authority.
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"The bottom line is this," she wrote. "The Appointments Clause is a critical constitutional restriction stemming from the separation of powers, and it gives to Congress a considered role in determining the propriety of vesting appointment power for inferior officers. The Special Counsel’s position effectively usurps that important legislative authority, transferring it to a Head of Department, in the process threatening the structural liberty inherent in the separation of powers. If the political branches wish to grant the Attorney General power to appoint Special Counsel Smith to investigate and prosecute this action with the full powers of a United States Attorney, there is a valid means by which to do so. He can be appointed and confirmed through the default method prescribed in the Appointments Clause, as Congress has directed for United States Attorneys throughout American history, see 28 U.S.C. § 541, or Congress can authorize his appointment through enactment of positive statutory law consistent with the Appointments Clause."
Cannon notably refers to a recent concurring opinion from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in the high-profile Trump immunity case that was decided this term.
In his opinion, Thomas questioned the legitimacy of Jack Smith's appointment as a special prosecutor, noting that it circumvented the Constitution. Cannon cited Thomas on multiple occasions.
In Trump's immunity ruling, Justice Thomas all but invited Judge Cannon to find Jack Smith was unconstitutionally appointed as special counsel.
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) July 15, 2024
Cannon noticed.
Her ruling doing so cites that concurrence at least three times. https://t.co/vt8gQxX20Q pic.twitter.com/i7zvGHdKSj
The dismissal is a big win for Trump, who is still recovering from an assassination attempt and preparing for his formal nomination for the presidency at the Republican National Convention this week.
You can read Cannon's full order below.
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