Special counsel Jack Smith cited a past case worked on by Judge Aileen Cannon to emphasize why she should rule against Donald Trump in his Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.
Trump’s legal team aims to delay the trial and has requested access to evidence already received.
Smith’s filing referred to a case from Cannon’s past to counter Trump’s claim of “selective prosecution.”
The move is seen as a strategic reminder to the judge about her expertise.
Catherine Ross, a professor emeritus at George Washington University Law School, said, “She worked on almost no cases. She had very little courtroom experience. To find a case that actually she worked on and that resulted in a published opinion is in itself improbable.”
“It’s a brilliant maneuver, and particularly with a judge who had so little trial background,” she continued.
“It’s not quite the same as confronting a judge with an opinion they wrote or joined,” added the professor.
“I don’t think selective prosecution comes up often. There are very few people who can pass the laugh test on claiming that. I think they have her locked in a pretty tight spot—if she were a normal judge,” explained Ross.
Smith’s team accused Cannon of making errors related to the protection of witness identities, potentially leading to concerns about her impartiality.
Former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman said, “Remember, we have this ongoing drama with her.”
“She’s been slow-walking the case and she had these early sort of debacles that the 11th Circuit reversed,” he continued.
“We’ve been wondering will she make another clear misstep that would give Smith the wherewithal to say maybe it’s time to recuse her,” added the former prosecutor.
Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, said, “So now there is this issue, with respect to divulging the name of someone who is under investigation, which could interfere with a criminal investigation. We don’t know about the underlying facts of that so it is somewhat guesswork.”
“What I can tell, you as a — I have been in a prosecutor for many years — that does not get disclosed when you are doing an investigation,” he continued.
“To me, it is so reminiscent of the same problem she had during the investigation. So, if she continues this route, it will be interesting to see whether Jack Smith gets to the 11th Circuit and whether they sort of politely recuse her, essentially, which happens when the circuit hears the case and basically says ‘When we send this back, we think that the better course is for a different judge to hear it,'” explained Weissmann.
There are suggestions that Cannon’s actions could lead to a potential recusal by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
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