July 15, 2024: Judge Dismisses Classified Documents Case

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon's decision to dismiss the classified documents case against former President Trump brought good news for him as the convention opens in Milwaukee.  The 93-page ruling granted Trump's "motion to dismiss indictment based on the unlawful appointment and funding of Special Counsel Jack Smith" in violation of the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.

Americans for Limited Government
July 15, 2024                                    Phone: 703-383-0880

Judge Cannon just dismissed classified docs case against Trump

July 15, 2024, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response to District Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision to dismiss former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case:
“The classified documents case against former President Donald Trump has always been both shaky and shady. Today, federal Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case for the most basic reason – Special Counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutionally appointed violating the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution. If upheld, this well-reasoned decision has potentially wide-ranging ramifications. 
“The Appointments Clause reads, ‘He [The President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.’
“Judge Cannon ruled that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s appointment did not meet the standards under law and is invalid. She left open the question of whether the monies spent on his prosecution meet the standards under the Constitution’s appropriations clause.
“This decision will be challenged and likely become another landmark ruling by the Supreme Court one way or another, but Smith’s on-going cases against President Trump should be suspended until the question is decided.  Smith’s prosecutions also suffer from the recent Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity where the Court found that official acts of a president are protected from prosecution.
“But Judge Cannon’s ruling cannot require that Smith’s prosecutions in other jurisdictions be stopped due to his illegitimacy. The ruling does end the classified documents cases in her court, and if sustained in the 11th circuit Court of Appeals which includes Florida, Alabama and Georgia. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas has oversight over the 11th Circuit.
“Given that Jack Smith prosecuted the Jan. 6 cases in Washington, D.C., which is a different Court of Appeals, it is unlikely that the finding will be honored in the District of Columbia, effectively ending those cases and potentially wiping the records clean for those convicted in the aftermath of the breach of the Capitol Building by angry protesters. It would also negate the prosecutions of President Biden’s son, Hunter, as the cases against him have been investigated and prosecuted by a special counsel appointed using the same authority which Judge Cannon’s decision struck down.”
To view online: https://getliberty.org/2024/07/judge-cannon-just-dismissed-classified-docs-case-against-trump/
For media availability contact Americans for Limited Government at media@limitgov.org.
U.S. Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE)
July 15, 2024

Senator Coons statement on dismissal of former President Trump’s classified documents case

WILMINGTON, Del. – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) released the following statement today after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed a federal indictment against former President Donald Trump centering on Trump’s mishandling of classified documents:

“Judge Cannon’s conclusion that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s tenure violates the Appointments and Appropriations Clauses misinterprets the Constitution’s text, departs from a half-century of established precedent, and defies common sense. Even as the Supreme Court vastly expanded presidential powers in its immunity decision earlier this month, only one justice – Clarence Thomas – so much as broached the theory that Judge Cannon relies on in her ruling. Indeed, the Supreme Court affirmatively permitted Special Counsel Smith’s prosecution of former President Trump in that case to continue – something the court would not have allowed if the prosecution was constitutionally flawed. I expect that Special Counsel Smith will promptly appeal this decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit and that this ruling by the district court will be overturned, given decades of precedent.”

Senator Coons is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.