NPR

Legal experts want Judge Cannon removed from Trump's Mar-a-Lago documents case

By Greg Allen

Published September 4, 2024 at 11:54 AM PDT

The federal courthouse, where U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, holds hearings for former President Donald Trump in Fort Pierce, Fla.

MIAMI — A retired federal judge is among those asking an appeals court to reassign former President Trump’s indictment on charges of mishandling classified documents case to a new judge.

In documents filed with the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals, two groups of legal experts and former government officials say U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon should be removed from the case.

Former federal judge Nancy Gertner and two legal scholars, Stephen Gillers and James Sample say rulings by Judge Cannon and her numerous delays have raised “well-founded concerns that she may be biased against the Government’s case and unable to manage that case impartially.” They’re seeking permission to file an amicus brief.

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In July, Judge Cannon dismissed Trump’s indictment on charges he illegally withheld and concealed classified and top-secret documents from federal investigators. In a decision that ran counter to decades of judicial rulings, including by the U.S. Supreme Court, Cannon said the statute under which special counsel Jack Smith was appointed violated the Constitution. Smith is appealing the dismissal.

In this image from video provided by the U.S. Senate, Aileen M. Cannon speaks remotely during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight nomination hearing to be U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on July 29, 2020, in Washington.

Gertner and the legal scholars were joined in the motion by the government watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government (CREW). They say if the appeals court overturns Cannon’s ruling, it would be the third time it’s reversed her in “a seemingly straightforward case about a former president’s unauthorized possession of government documents.”

A second group of former government officials and legal scholars has also filed a motion with the 11^th Circuit asking for permission to file an amicus brief.

They say Judge Cannon’s ruling ignored the “plain text” of the Appointments Clause of the Constitution which allows the Attorney General to appoint a special prosecutor. Her dismissal of the charges they say are “in clear defiance of binding Supreme Court precedent and the plain text of Congress’ statutes.” They’re asking the Appeals Court to reverse Judge Cannon’s ruling and to remove her from the case.

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