A federal judge in Florida issued a ludicrous ruling granting Donald Trump a “special master” to review documents recovered at his Mar-a-Lago resort while keeping his claims of executive privilege alive. And her ruling is drawing significant backlash from legal experts.
Trump has been desperately trying to hold up the Justice Department’s investigation into his illegal possession of multiple boxes of classified information that he took from the White House at the end of his presidency. The FBI recovered the documents last month after serving a search warrant approved by Attorney General Merrick Garland and signed by a federal judge.
Thus far, Trump’s explanations and excuses have failed to get him out of the legal jeopardy he finds himself in. So his lawyers found a federal judge he appointed to hear his arguments, which primarily involve attorney-client privilege and executive privilege.
While it’s possible some documents may be covered by attorney-client privilege, the DOJ has a filter team in place to separate those documents from the others. In the case of executive privilege, Trump does not have that power as a former president. Only the sitting president has executive privilege.
But in her ruling this week, District Judge Aileen Cannon approved of a “special master” to review the documents and kept the door open for Trump to claim executive privilege, ignoring precedent in the process and clearly attempting to shield Trump from being held accountable for serious crimes.
In fact, Cannon’s ruling is so odious that legal experts trashed it, even going so far as to accuse Cannon of obstructing justice.
I truly hoped Judge Cannon would adhere to the rule of law, but she in fact is now another illustration of the insidiousness of Trump and the Big Lie. And how he has infected formerly main stream Republicans.
— Andrew Weissmann 🌻 (@AWeissmann_) September 5, 2022
This ruling is preposterous—especially the part where it blocks the government from continuing to use materials already in its possession.
At the very least, that last ruling creates an immediately appealable injunctive-like order, which DOJ can now take to the Eleventh Circuit. https://t.co/b07e1oR5vK
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) September 5, 2022
A reminder that Judge Cannon never should have taken this case. It was in the hands of the magistrate judge, she was picked by Trump’s lawyers solely because she was a Trumpist, in a jurisdiction nowhere near Mar-a-Lago. She has an effect engaged herself in obstruction of justice
— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) September 5, 2022
Supreme Court lawyer and former Solicitor General Neal Katyal dismantled Cannon’s ruling piece by piece.
This special master opinion is so bad it’s hard to know where to begin:
1. She says Biden hasn’t weighed in on whether docs protected by Exec Privilege. Nonsense. The archives letter (which DOJ submitted to the Judge) makes it clear current President thinks none of this …— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) September 5, 2022
they leave office. At most, it simply means these are Executive documents that must be returned to the archives. It doesn’t in any way shape or form mean they can’t be used in a criminal prosecution about stolen docs…
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) September 5, 2022
4. She says the Special Master should screen materials for exec privilege, without ever once explaining what specific material is subject to exec priv, particularly when the incumbent President rejects the assertion. How is the Master supposed to figure that intricate Q out?
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) September 5, 2022
6. She tries to enjoin the Exec Branch from using these materials in an investigation, but the govt has already reviewed all the materials. It makes no sense.
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) September 5, 2022
8. Her analysis of standing is terrible. Trump wouldn’t own these docs anyway, so why does he get a Master over them? If there is some marginal claim to some attorney client docs, that handful of material can be separately dealt with–you don’t enjoin the entire investig for that
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) September 5, 2022
That’s just a few of many more problems. Frankly, any of my first year law students would have written a better opinion.
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) September 5, 2022
There is no way that this ruling should be allowed to stand. Trump violated the Espionage Act and the Presidential Records Act. He had top secret documents in his possession, and some of the documents are missing from several folders.
The 11th Circuit must overturn Cannon’s ruling. Because if they don’t, Trump will have succeeded in transforming the judicial branch into a lawless institution that deserves to be destroyed and remade.
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