The federal classified documents case brought against former President Donald Trump was tossed by Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday, just ahead of the start of the Republican National Convention.
Cannon’s ruling said Jack Smith’s appointment to special counsel was a violation of the Constitution.
“The Superseding Indictment is DISMISSED because Special Counsel Smith’s appointment violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution,” she wrote.
“In the end, it seems the Executive’s growing comfort in appointing ‘regulatory’ special counsels in the more recent era has followed an ad hoc pattern with little judicial scrutiny,” Cannon continued.
The ruling clears one of the major legal hurdles facing the former president, as he attempts to win back the office in the 2024 election. Many legal experts viewed this case as the strongest of the criminal lawsuits brought against Trump.
It is possible that the ruling can be appealed, as other district judges and the D.C. Circuit have upheld the constitutionality of special counsels in previous legal challenges.
Cannon was appointed by Trump in 2020. The entire case was tossed on Monday as a result of Cannon’s ruling that Smith’s appointment “effectively usurps” the authority of Congress.
“The Framers gave Congress a pivotal role in the appointment of principal and inferior officers,” Cannon wrote. “That role cannot be usurped by the Executive Branch or diffused elsewhere–whether in this case or in another case, whether in times of heightened national need or not.”
“Upon careful study of the foundational challenges raised in the Motion, 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,” she added.
