former president donald trump
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U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon issued an order Monday morning dismissing the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump over the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith Way.
“The superseding indictment is dismissed because Special Counsel Smith’s appointment violated the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution,” wrote Judge Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by the former president.
Special counsel Jack Smith has challenged that argument, and other federal courts have upheld the special counsel’s constitutionality.
Cannon wrote: “There is no statute considered to be the legal authority for appointments … that gives the Attorney General broad authority to appoint lower-level officials, nor does it give him the authority to appoint federal officials with the kind of prosecutorial authority that Special Counsel Smith has. s right.
Her view closely mirrors the reasoning recently outlined by conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in a unanimous opinion in a separate case against Trump.
Trump applauded the firing and called for all other cases against him, including criminal charges related to overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election, to be dropped.
“As we move forward in uniting our country after Saturday’s horrific events, dismissal of Florida’s wrongful prosecution should be just the first step,” Trump tweeted on “The Truth Society.” “Democratic Justice Department Coordinating all of these political attacks was an election interference plot against Joe Biden’s political opponents.”
Trump’s lawyers handling the case declined further comment. The Justice Department had no immediate comment on the dismissal of the case.
