Legal experts want Judge Cannon removed from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents case: NPR

The federal courthouse where U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon is holding hearings for former President Donald Trump in Fort Pierce, Florida.

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MIAMI — A retired federal judge is among those asking an appeals court to transfer the indictment against former President Trump for mishandling classified documents to a new judge.

In documents filed with the 11^and The Court of Appeals, two groups of legal experts and former government officials say U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon should be removed from the case.

Former federal judge Nancy Gertner and two legal scholars, Stephen Gillers and James Sample, say Judge Cannon’s rulings and her numerous delays “have raised well-founded concerns that she may be biased against the government’s case and unable to handle it impartially.” They are asking for permission to file an amicus curiae brief.

In July, Judge Cannon dismissed Trump’s indictment alleging that he unlawfully withheld and concealed classified and top-secret documents from federal investigators. In a decision that went against decades of court rulings, including those of the U.S. Supreme Court, Cannon said the law under which special counsel Jack Smith was appointed violated the Constitution. Smith is appealing the dismissal.

In this image, taken from a U.S. Senate video, Aileen M. Cannon speaks remotely during a Senate Oversight Committee hearing on the nomination for U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Florida on July 29, 2020, in Washington.

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Gertner and the legal scholars were joined in the motion by the government watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government (CREW). They say that if the appeals court overturns Cannon’s ruling, it would be the third time it has reversed its decision in “a seemingly straightforward case involving the unauthorized possession of government documents by a former president.”

A second group of former government officials and lawyers also filed a motion with the 11^and Circuit requests leave to file amicus curiae brief.

They say Judge Cannon’s ruling ignores the “plain text” of the Constitution’s Appointments Clause, which allows the attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor. Her dismissal of the charges, they say, “clearly conflicts with binding Supreme Court precedent and the plain text of Congressional statutes.” They ask the Court of Appeals to overturn Judge Cannon’s ruling and remove her from the case.