Donald Trump will not be able to forget for now the case involving the classified papers that he took to Mar-a-Lago, his mansion in Palm Beach (Florida). Although the judge in charge, Aileen Cannon, decided to close the case, the special prosecutor Jack Smith has appealed that ruling before the Court of Appeals in an attempt to reopen the case. In an 81-page document, Smith accuses Judge Cannon, appointed by Trump himself, of disregarding all precedents to annul the case.
In a stunning ruling, the judge concluded that the appointment of the special counsel, Jack Smith, violated the Constitution because he was neither appointed by the president (the attorney general did) nor confirmed by the Senate. Now, the attorney general says that decision was wrong. “The attorney general validly appointed the special counsel, who is also properly funded. In ruling otherwise, the district court departed from binding Supreme Court precedents, misinterpreted the statutes authorizing the appointment of the special counsel, and failed to adequately consider the attorney general’s long history of appointments of special counsels,” the motion states.
“If the attorney general lacks the power to appoint lower-level officials, that conclusion would invalidate the appointment of all members of the Department who exercise significant authority and hold continuing office, other than the few who are specifically identified by law,” the brief says. “The district court’s reasoning would similarly raise questions about hundreds of appointments across the executive branch, including at the Departments of Defense, State, Treasury, and Labor.”
The complaint notes that, from before the creation of the Justice Department and continuing to this day, attorneys general have repeatedly appointed special, independent prosecutors to handle federal investigations, including the Watergate case.
The 11th Circuit judges will now be in charge of resolving the appeal. But even if they ruled in favor of the prosecutor and overturned the dismissal, Trump would have already scored a small victory: delaying the case. In addition, the former president’s lawyers could appeal to the Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority of six judges to three and in which three of the justices were appointed by Trump himself when he was president. The Supreme Court has had important rulings in favor of Trump in the last judicial year, including one that grants him broad immunity.
The legal maneuvers of the former president’s defense to delay the trials against him have been successful, with the exception of the case in New York, where he was found guilty of 34 crimes by a jury and is awaiting sentencing – which has also been delayed.
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If Trump regains the presidency, he could get the charges dropped in the federal cases (the classified papers case and the Washington case for interference in the 2020 election). He could also seek a self-pardon.
The judge’s decision to dismiss the case was announced in July, on the first day of the Republican convention in Milwaukee and just two days after the president suffered an assassination attempt. At the time, he seemed headed for the White House. Now, the prosecutor’s appeal comes shortly after the Democratic convention, where the replacement of Joe Biden as candidate by Kamala Harris has sparked enthusiasm in the Democratic ranks.
Harris’ supporters repeatedly pointed out at the convention that their candidate is a former prosecutor, while Trump is a convicted felon. Still, the president’s criminal cases have so far played little role in voting intentions. In something that would have been unthinkable a few decades ago, a large portion of Americans seem willing to elect a criminal as president. Trump has presented himself as a martyr and an unjust victim, and at times has even capitalized on the charges against him.
Although it had been brewing with requests ignored by the former president, the case of the classified papers from Mar-a-Lago exploded with the search of Trump’s mansion in Palm Beach (Florida) by FBI agents on August 8, 2022. In June of the following year, he was formally charged with dozens of crimes. The former president was accused of handling hundreds of secret or classified documents that he took without permission to his private residence, which is also a hotel and a social club, when he left the White House in January 2021. These papers, like those of any American president when he leaves office, belong by law to the National Archives. He is also accused of refusing to return them when the authorities repeatedly asked him to. This resistance led to the aforementioned search.
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