This lawyer was only 38 years old and a limited resume when Donald Trump appointed her as federal judge – a position held for life – for the Southern District of Florida. Two years later, Aileen Cannon finds herself at the heart of a political and legal battle over the documents seized from Trump in Mar-a-Lago in early August. And his decisions, largely favorable to the former American president, are controversial.
Thursday she has appointed an independent expert, Judge Dreary, giving him until November 30, i.e. following the midterms legislative elections, to review the 11,000 documents seized from Donald Trump, and see if some should be returned to him in the privileged name of the executive. Above all, it blocked the investigation of the Department of Justice (DOJ) during this expertise. And denied his request to be able to access 100 classified documents during this time.
“Biased” decision
“Judge Cannon is a partisan writer,” said former Obama administration DOJ prosecutor Andrew Weissmann. “She says it’s not established that the documents are classified, but Trump never told the court they weren’t, and didn’t submit any evidence. The only proof she has is that it’s written on them (that they’re classified). His decision is completely biased. »
“This decision is a disgrace. It shouldn’t take much to overturn it on appeal, ”said conservative lawyer George Conway, a regular critic of the former US president, who was advised by his wife, Kellyanne Conway. Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who voted to confirm Justice Cannon, defended him, ironically: “Liberals only criticize judges when they don’t rule in their favor.”
Call or not?
Now the DOJ has two options. He can appeal to a panel of three judges drawn from among 11, 6 of whom were appointed by Trump. The case might then go all the way to the Supreme Court, which has six out of nine conservative justices, including three appointed by Trump. The latter had decided once morest the former American president when he refused to transmit the documents of his administration to the committee of inquiry on January 6.
Even if the Department of Justice has a significant chance of winning, this game of ping-pong might take time – and Donald Trump seems to want to play the clock and drag out the procedure to avoid weighing down the Republicans in the Midterms. The DOJ might choose another path: let the expert, hailed from all sides, examine the 100 classified documents as a priority, in order to have access to them more quickly. If he decides.
