Appeals Court Deals Blow to Jack Smith in Classified Documents Case
Judge Cannon Dismisses President Trump Classified Docs Case, Rules Biden DOJ Appointment of Jack Smith Unconstitutional.
July 27, 2024
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals responded to Jack Smith’s bid to appeal Judge Cannon’s decision to dismiss the classified documents case against President Trump.
Breaking! Judge Cannon Dismisses President Trump Classified Docs Case, Rules Biden DOJ Appointment of Jack Smith Unconstitutional
The appeals court provided a schedule that requires President Trump and Jack Smith to file briefs through October, Politico reported.
Jack Smith’s chances of reviving the case will not happen before the election after all the legal briefs are filed and the court hears oral arguments.
Politico reported:
Special counsel Jack Smith’s bid to revive the classified documents case against Donald Trump appears unlikely to be resolved or even argued in court before Election Day.
Smith is appealing U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision last week to dismiss the case, in which the former president is charged with hoarding national security secrets at Mar-a-Lago after he left office. The federal court that will hear his appeal — the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals — laid out a schedule Thursday that requires Smith and Trump to file legal briefs through mid-October.
After all the briefs are in, the court will likely hear oral arguments, with a decision weeks or potentially months after that.
Special Counsel Jack Smith on Wednesday appealed Judge Cannon’s decision to toss the classified documents case to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
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Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday dismissed Jack Smith’s classified documents case based on unlawful appointment and funding of the special counsel.
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign said the DOJ 'should drop' the 'politically motivated' case
The charges waged against President Trump and his co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira were all tossed.
GITMO detainee Jack Smith indicted President Trump on 37 federal counts in Miami in June 2023 for lawfully storing presidential records at his Mar-a-Lago estate which was protected by Secret Service agents.
President Trump was charged with 31 counts under the Espionage Act of willful retention of national defense information and 6 other process crimes stemming from his conversations with his lawyer.
Judge Cannon dismissed the ENTIRE case: “The clerk is directed to close this case,” Cannon wrote.
Cannon dismissed Jack Smith’s case based on both unconstitutional elements: The appointment by the late US Attorney Merrick Garland and the unlimited funding given to Jack Smith – both without the approval of Congress.
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“Upon careful study of the foundational challenges raised in the Motion, the Court is convinced that Special Counsel 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,” Cannon wrote in her order.
“Both the Appointments and Appropriations challenges as framed in the Motion raise the following threshold question: is there a statute in the United States Code that authorizes the appointment of Special Counsel Smith to conduct this prosecution?” Judge Cannon wrote.
“After careful study of this seminal issue, the answer is no.”
“The bottom line is this: 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 judge wrote in a 93-page filing.
“The Special Counsel’s position effectively usurps that important legislative authority, transferring it to a Head of Department, and in the process threatening the structural liberty inherent in the separation of powers,” Cannon wrote.
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