'Destined for reversal': Calls for immediate appeal of Cannon Mar-a-Lago dismissal as Trump allies celebrate return to 'sanity'

Background: Evidence seized by FBI agents during execution of search warrant at Mar-a-Lago (federal court filing). Inset: Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Butler, Pa., July 13, 2024. AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar.

Now that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has thrown out Donald Trump ‘s indictment for unlawfully retaining classified documents on the basis that Attorney General Merrick Garland unconstitutionally appointed special counsel Jack Smith to prosecute the former president, legal analysts and lawmakers alike are weighing in.

If the case is appealed it will go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and if prosecutors seek to they could attempt to have the case reassigned if Cannon’s decision is overturned.

A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment and Smith did not take questions Monday, according to ABC News.

As Law&Crime reported , the dismissal comes two days after the attempted assassination of Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania and two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court’s immunity ruling in Trump v. United States .

When reached for comment by email on Monday, Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a law professor at Stetson and a fellow at the Brennan Center said the case seems “destined for reversal by the 11th Circuit, or the Supreme Court, and likely both.”

“On the substantive law, she seems wrong as I explain in my new book Corporatocracy , America has had special counsels since the Teapot Dome scandal a hundred years ago. Thus at the end of the day, Special Prosecutor Jack Smith is going to be able to prosecute this case about ex-President Trump’s alleged illegal retention of classified and military documents,” she said.

Torres-Spelliscy anticipates the documents case could take “months if not years of delay in the resolution of the criminal case.”

“Voters already know that if Trump is re-elected he is likely to dismiss federal criminal cases against himself. But this development with Judge Cannon is just one more reason for rule-of-law voters to be extra motivated to get to the ballot box in November,” she said.

National security attorney Bradley Moss responded to the ruling on X.com, formerly Twitter, saying that Cannon has “dismissed decades of institutional precedent, years of recent rulings on Mueller and Smith, and pretty much the entire premise of the special counsel regulations.”

“Her ultimate complaint? Jack Smith is TOO independent,” Moss wrote . [Emphasis original]

“Off to the 11th Circuit we go,” he added.

George Washington Law Professor Randall Eliason remarked on Monday that while he may have previously argued against the Justice Department’s appeal in the event of a dismissal, he acknowledged that the likelihood that the department would want Cannon’s ruling to stand is next to nil.

Brian Greer, a Just Security contributor and former attorney at the CIA’s Office of General Counsel who posts under the handle SecretsandLaws on X.com, noted how the ruling came on the opening day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

“Trump filed his motion to dismiss the indictment under the Appointments Clause 144 days ago. Cannon decided to dismiss it on the opening day of the RNC. This is her application to be appointed to the Supreme Court — just blatant political corruption by the judiciary,” Greer wrote online .

Beyond that timing, Greer also emphasized that he never thought the case would make it to a jury so that ultimately, the ruling from Cannon would “merely accelerate the process of DOJ figuring out next steps.”

“However, there are no ‘good’ options for Smith. The question is which is the least worst,” he said, adding that the next steps may include Smith seeking Cannon’s removal or potentially seeking a new indictment, though those options wouldn’t be seamless in light of the Supreme Court’s recent immunity decision.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, a Democrat, called Cannon’s ruling “breathtakingly misguided” and urged an “immediate” appeal be filed.

“This is further evidence that Judge Cannon cannot handle this case impartially and must be reassigned,” he wrote on X.com.

The Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee however celebrated the ruling, calling it “another win for President Trump” and then posted photos of Cannon and Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas with the caption “American heroes.”

A Republican member of the committee Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin called the ruling “another huge hit to the Left’s vendetta against Trump.”

Other Republican lawmakers like Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, a longtime ally to Trump who has suggested baselessly that the Capitol was overrun with “fake Trump protesters” on Jan. 6, called Cannon’s ruling a return to “sanity” in the judicial system.

Trump meanwhile responded on Truth Social Monday and called for a quick dismissal of the remaining indictments against him including the four-count election subversion indictment in Washington, D.C., before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan. In the post online, Trump referred to the attack on the U.S. Capitol as the “January 6th Hoax.”

He also appeared to denigrate his New York civil fraud conviction as the “New York A.G. scam” and referred to his 34-count conviction in the hush-money and election interference case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as a “Zombie Case.”

Since the Supreme Court issued its ruling granting Trump limited immunity from prosecution for acts taken while in office, Trump’s sentencing in the hush-money case was pushed back from last week to September.

Trump appeared to single out E. Jean Carroll too in his Monday missive without calling her by name. A judge ruled that Trump sexually assaulted Carroll in a dressing room in Manhattan in the mid-1990s and he was also found liable for defaming her. But as he has done repeatedly since he was found liable , Trump on Monday called Carroll’s claims false. Where Trump faces criminal racketeering charges in Georgia tied to his alleged fake elector scheme, the former president called his conduct there, specifically, his phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger , the “‘Perfect’ Phone Call charges.”

He went on to make unsupported claims about the Justice Department being weaponized by President Joe Biden.

Since the assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Biden called for a cooling of heated rhetoric and during a press conference on July 14 noted the uptick in threats of violence as well as actual violent crimes that have targeted politicians and officials as well as their families, like the attack on former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi or the attempted kidnapping of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer .

“I believe politics ought to be an arena for peaceful debate, to pursue justice, to make decisions guided by the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution,” Biden said Sunday. “We stand for an America not of extremism and fury but of decency and grace.”

The post ‘Destined for reversal’: Calls for immediate appeal of Cannon Mar-a-Lago dismissal as Trump allies celebrate return to ‘sanity’ first appeared on Law & Crime .