U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, Trinity ‘03, dismissed the full classified documents case against former President Donald Trump Monday morning.
Cannon ruled that Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the case against Trump, was named to his position “in violation of the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.” Smith was appointed special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022.
The case was based on allegations that Trump brought numerous classified documents from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Smith brought 40 felony charges against Trump in August, including possession of the documents and obstructing government demands to return them.
The Monday decision contradicts other rulings reaching back for decades upholding the legality of a variety of independent prosecutor appointment methods. In her ruling, Cannon claimed that Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional because he was not appointed by the president or confirmed by the Senate.
The move follows several “longshot” arguments by Trump’s defense team to have the case dismissed. Cannon previously denied a similar attempt in June but agreed to strike a paragraph in the federal superseding indictment that she found was not connected to a specific crime Trump was accused of committing.
Cannon’s ruling removes a major roadblock to the Trump campaign on the first day of the Republican National Convention, where he is expected to be named the Republican presidential nominee. It also comes less than two days after the presidential candidate survived a reported assassination attempt at a Saturday afternoon campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Trump celebrated the decision in a Monday morning post to his social media platform Truth Social, writing that the decision “should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of all the witch hunts.”
Trump currently faces a number of other civil and criminal cases, though many legal experts considered the classified documents case the strongest legal obstacle to the former president.
In her ruling, Cannon noted that the decision does not apply to other jurisdictions. Trump faces four felony charges in a separate case also brought by Smith in August 2023 that accuses the former president of engaging in conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Smith’s legal team is expected to appeal Monday’s decision.
Cannon was randomly assigned to the case in June 2023. She faced scrutiny after being selected, as some legal experts argued that the federal judge had insufficient experience with criminal cases to handle the high-profile case. Others have accused Cannon of displaying bias in previous rulings favorable to Trump, also noting that she had been given a lifetime appointment by the then-president in May 2020.
Cannon received a bachelor’s degree from Duke in 2003 and a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 2007.
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Zoe Kolenovsky is a Trinity junior and news editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.