Mar-a-Lago judge's back-to-back rejections of pro-Trump AGs and Stephen Miller signal end to 'friends of the court' free for all

Left: U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon (U.S. Senate); center: Donald Trump (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File); Right: Stephen Miller (Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via AP Images)

Could it be that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon is finally done hearing from nonparties in the Mar-a-Lago case and is focused instead on moving the case forward based on what the prosecution and Donald Trump’s defense have to say? Her back-to-back rejections of Republican attorneys general and of former Trump White House senior adviser Stephen Miller’s legal group signal an end to the “friends of the court” free-for-all she’s up to now allowed.

Last Friday, Cannon heard from three separate groups of amici curiae at an hourslong hearing on the issue of whether special counsel Jack Smith was lawfully appointed to prosecute the former president in the Espionage Act case. The nonparties, arguing in support and against Trump’s motion to dismiss over Smith’s appointment by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, were told that “[n]o further filings from amici will be accepted,” according to Cannon’s minute entry after the hearing.

The line is notable considering that the judge earlier last week swiftly denied an attempt by a coalition of Republican attorneys general to weigh in as amici on the special counsel’s request for a gag order on Trump.

Even though Cannon issued that rejection, Miller’s America First Legal Foundation nonetheless tried the same tactic later in the week, emphasizing that its proposed entry into the case was unopposed.

More Law&Crime coverage: Two fellow judges reportedly tried to convicted Judge Cannon to step aside from Mar-a-Lago case, but she rebuffed them

Both the AGs and Miller had argued that the special counsel’s move to modify Trump’s bond conditions over “inflammatory” Truth Social posts slamming the feds who searched Mar-a-Lago amounted to an unlawful “prior restraint” in the thick of his reelection campaign.

But it now seems that the judge is content with hearing only from Smith and Trump’s lawyers on that front and others, as, on Saturday, Cannon flatly denied America First Legal’s amicus bid:

PAPERLESS ORDER denying 633 America First Legal’s Unopposed Motion for Leave to Participate as Amicus Curiae in Opposition to Special Counsel’s Motion for Modification of Conditions of Release 592. Signed by Judge Aileen M. Cannon on 6/22/2024. (jf01) (Entered: 06/22/2024)

While Trump’s defense lawyers have called Smith’s gag order request a “shocking display of overreach and disregard for the Constitution,” the Special Counsel’s Office reiterated its position later Friday that Trump’s posts about the feds being authorized to use “deadly (lethal) force” did, in fact, “pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger” to law enforcement and potential trial witnesses.

“Consistent with that purpose, the limitation that the Government asks the Court to impose is exceedingly narrow, focused, and fully consistent with the First Amendment,” Smith said. “In resisting even that narrow limitation, Trump is left to argue that the First Amendment will be eroded unless he is permitted to lie about FBI agents intending to murder him and his family. The law requires no such thing.”

Remarking on gag orders issued in Trump’s Manhattan civil fraud and criminal hush-money cases and in his Jan. 6 federal prosecution , the special counsel’s reply stressed that “[e]very court to have examined the issue has recognized the threat caused by the long-standing and well-documented dynamic between Trump’s comments and the predictable response from some of his supporters.”

“While Trump boastfully acknowledges the impact that his words have on his listeners, he will just as predictably decline any responsibility for their actions should any further violence take place. Neither the Government nor the Court has that luxury,” the special counsel said .

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