A Florida judge has dismissed the US justice department’s classified documents case against Donald Trump in a huge victory for the former president just days after a gunman attempted to assassinate him.
Judge Aileen Cannon granted Trump’s motion to dismiss the federal case on the basis that the justice department’s appointment of special prosecutor Jack Smith violates the Appointments Clause of the US Constitution.
Trump pleaded not guilty to several charges in the case over his handling of classified documents, including wilful retention of national defence information.
Dozens of classified files were found in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, including in a shower and storage room, after Trump left the White House in 2021.
“The Court is convinced that Special Counsel’s Smith’s prosecution of this action breaches two structural cornerstones of our constitutional scheme—the role of Congress in the appointment of constitutional officers, and the role of Congress in authorizing expenditures by law,” Judge Cannon concluded in her 93-page order.
The former president faced multiple felony counts over his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
The 37-count indictment accused Trump of keeping files at his Florida estate and lying to investigators. It alleged he then tried to obstruct the investigation into the handling of the documents.
He was charged alongside aide Walt Nauta and former employee Carlos de Oliveira, who had also pleaded not guilty.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Mr Smith in 2022 to oversee two federal investigations into the former president.
Judge Cannon said in her ruling that this decision applies to this case and not a second one overseen by Mr Smith over alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The former president’s lawyers did not make a similar request to dismiss that case.
The Trump-appointed Florida judge had recently indefinitely postponed the federal classified documents trial, saying there were significant questions over trial evidence.
Legal experts have debated the strengths and weakness of the two federal criminal cases brought by Mr Smith.
On Monday, Judge Cannon stepped in and said those details did not matter.
She held that the mere existence of special counsels – how they are appointed and how they are funded – violates the US Constitution.
Judge Cannon’s ruling cuts against the ruling of judges in other US courts that have dealt with these specially appointed prosecutors.
It draws from theories advanced by some conservative legal scholars and, most notably, by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in the top court’s recently decided presidential immunity case.
In that case, the Supreme Court said former presidents, including Trump, are immune from criminal prosecution for “official acts”.
Judge Cannon cited three times in her decision a concurring opinion by Justice Thomas in the Supreme Court ruling in which he questioned whether there was a legal basis for naming special counsel.
By BBC News
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