(NewsNation) — Judge Eileen Cannon has dismissed a classified documents lawsuit against former President Donald Trump.
Judge Cannon dismissed the case, finding that the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.
The suit is one of four against the former president, who was convicted of 34 felony counts of business fraud in New York and whose two election lawsuits against him — one in federal court and one in Georgia — remain in legal limbo.
Counterargument against Trump
The classified documents lawsuit centered on allegations that President Trump improperly retained and stored classified documents after he left the White House, took them to his Mar-a-Lago home, and then refused to return them when requested by the National Archives and Records Administration.
After multiple attempts by the government, with Trump's cooperation, to recover the records, the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago and recovered boxes of documents.
Smith charged Trump with violating the espionage act, making false statements and obstruction of justice.
Pretrial Delays
During pretrial proceedings, Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee, took so long to hear and consider motions from both the defense and the prosecution that some accused him of incompetence and even of favoring the defense.
Cannon earlier this year postponed the case indefinitely to consider allegations about classified material and how it might be used in court. The delay was widely seen as a victory for the Trump campaign, which had sought to delay the trial against Trump until after the November election.
The decision to dismiss the case came after a Supreme Court ruling that the president has immunity from prosecution for acts done in official capacity. Although the case did not rely on a Supreme Court ruling, Justice Clarence Thomas addressed the constitutionality of special counsel in his concurring opinion.
“Without a statute defining the role of a special counsel, he cannot proceed with this prosecution. A private citizen cannot bring criminal charges against someone, especially a former president,” Thomas wrote.
Special Appointment
Trump's lawyers argued that the Justice Department's appointment of Smith was unconstitutional because the Appointments Clause requires that senior officials be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
Trump's lawyers argued that given Smith's power, his role would be considered a senior official and would require Senate confirmation.
The Justice Department appointed Smith independently through a process enacted after the lapse of independent counsel laws from the 1980s and 1990s that allowed court review boards to appoint independent investigators to handle politically sensitive cases.
The Justice Department's procedures are based on regulations enacted at the end of the Clinton administration and are designed to allow independent investigators to handle politically sensitive issues.
Cannon disputed claims by Smith's office that his appointment was in line with historical practice.
“After all, it seems like the administration is becoming more and more comfortable appointing ‘regulatory’ special advisers.
“Special counsels in the recent past have followed a pattern of ad hoc practice with little judicial scrutiny,” she writes. “Perhaps this stems from President Nixon's reliance on errant judgment that continued in subsequent cases; perhaps this is substantively justified by the urgency of the national crisis; or perhaps it can be explained by the relative paucity of such investigations, congressional indifference, or the prominent role that such figures have played in our nation's history.”
Reaction to the decision
On Truth Social, Trump called the case a witch hunt and blamed President Joe Biden for the prosecution.
“Let's come together to end the weaponization of our justice system and Make America Great Again!” Trump said.
Judge Cannon rejected the prosecution's arguments and ordered the case dismissed. The special counsel's office has not yet said whether it plans to appeal the ruling.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, denounced the ruling.
“This shockingly erroneous sentence runs counter to long-accepted practice and repeated case precedent. It is contrary to law and must be appealed immediately. It is further evidence that Judge Cannon cannot handle this case fairly and must be reappointed,” he said.
Read the full ruling:
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
