Special counsel Jack Smith on Wednesday appealed a federal judge's decision to dismiss the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump .
The appeal comes just two days after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case in response to a motion by Trump that argued Smith was improperly appointed. Smith's appeal, which was expected , was made to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, which handles matters arising from Florida federal courts.
"The United States of America hereby gives notice that it appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from the order of the District Court entered on July 15," according to a notice on the docket from Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to prosecute the case against Trump.
in her ruling Monday, Cannon said Smith's appointment was not legal because the Constitution requires "Officers of the United States" to be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. She also found that funding for Smith's prosecutorial office violated the appropriations clause.
Trump was charged in the case filed in Florida's Southern District Court with retaining hundreds of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort club after leaving the White House in 2021 and with attempting to obstruct the government's investigation to regain said records.
The former president and Republican presidential nominee, who survived an assassination attempt on Saturday, is separately facing four felonies related to his actions in the aftermath of his loss to President Joe Biden in 2020.
The appeal is unlikely to be resolved until after the presidential election, all but guaranteeing that Trump will not face trial until 2025 at the earliest. If he is elected president in November, he could order his attorney general to dismiss the classified documents case and the 2020 election subversion case.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said that as the nation moves ahead after the shooting at the former president's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, "this dismissal of the lawless indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL of the Witch Hunts."
"The Democrat-led Justice Department should drop these politically motivated, election interference efforts against President Trump immediately," Cheung said. "Let us come together to END the weaponization of our justice system and Make America Great Again!"
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It is unclear when the appeals court will schedule arguments before a panel of judges. If the 11th Circuit sides with Smith, Trump is still able to seek a rehearing or an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Cannon’s decision on Monday came just two weeks after the Supreme Court decided the immunity dispute in Trump v. United States , which separated presidential acts into three buckets: clear immunity from prosecution, clearly not immune, and unclear. However, she only leaned partially on that ruling in her written decision, citing a portion of a concurrence by Justice Clarence Thomas that took a critical aim at Garland's appointment of Smith.
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