Justice Denied: How Aileen Cannon's Ruling Erodes Democracy

Trump's Judicial Puppet Strikes Again— Also An Erosion Of Judicial Integrity

Earlier today, hack MAGA Judge Aileen Cannon finally gave Special Counsel Jack Smith the opportunity he’s needed to get her off the case. She peremptorily dismissed the classified documents case against Trump, claiming Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional. In a nonsense ruling, she wrote that “The Special Counsel’s position effectively usurps that important legislative authority, transferring it to a Head of Department, and in the process threatening the structural liberty inherent in the separation of powers. If the political branches wish to grant the Attorney General power to appoint Special Counsel Smith to investigate and prosecute this action with the full powers of a United States Attorney, there is a valid means by which to do so.”   

The NY Times reported that her ruling “flew in the face of previous court decisions reaching back to the Watergate era that upheld the legality of the ways in which independent prosecutors have been named. And in a single swoop, it removed a major legal threat against Trump on the first day of the Republican National Convention, where he is set to formally become the party’s nominee for president. Smith’s team will almost certainly appeal the ruling by Judge Cannon throwing out the classified documents indictment, which charges Trump with illegally holding onto a trove of highly sensitive state secrets after he left office and then obstructing the government’s repeated efforts to retrieve them.”

Smith will unquestionably now ask the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (in Atlanta) to remove her. Eventually, though, the case will wind up before the very Trump-friendly Supreme Court

Cannon has made a host of highly unusual decisions in the classified documents case almost from the moment that she took control of it in June 2023. She has granted a serious audience to some of Trump’s most far-fetched defense claims and has repeatedly scheduled hearings for issues that many, if not most, federal judges would have dealt with on the merits of written filings. Even so, it’s fair to say that almost no one expected her to kill the documents case in quite this way at quite this moment.

…The ruling is an attempt to roll back nearly 30 years of how special counsels, like Jack Smith, have gotten their jobs. In short, special counsels are now governed by Justice Department regulations set by the discretion and through the statutory authority of the attorney general. That has been the case since the Clinton administration, when the previous law governing independent prosecutors was allowed to lapse in the wake of the Whitewater investigations.

Cannon's decision to dismiss the case is beyond a miscarriage of justice; it’s a blatant display of judicial overreach and partisan bias. She’s been waiting for an opportunity to do this all year and the ruling certainly epitomizes the systemic corruption and cronyism that plagues the American judicial system, especially under the influence of Trump's authoritarian brand of politics, undermining the rule of law by dismissing a case that was built on clear evidence that Trump stole classified documents and refused to return them. The decision wasn’t based on the merits of the case but on a dubious constitutional argument that no one has ever agreed with but another joke of justice, Clarence “For Sale” Thomas. By focusing on procedural technicalities, Cannon effectively ignored the gravity of the allegations, allowing her patron to escape accountability. It’s another clear example of how the rich and powerful manipulate the legal system to evade justice, reinforcing the perception that there are different sets of rules for the elite and the rest of us.

There was never a shred of impartiality in this case and she should never have been allowed anywhere bear it. Her ruling was certainly a politically motivated attempt to protect the incompetent president who put an incompetent hack on the bench. How hard is it to see that this decision comes at a critical time, coinciding with the Republican National Convention and following a failed attempt on Trump's life, which adds to the sense that the ruling is more about political maneuvering than legal principle. It’s majorly fucked that a judge can so openly demonstrate allegiance to the political figure who appointed her, rather than upholding her duty to impartially apply the law.

The argument that the special counsel's appointment violates the Constitution is weak and reeks of desperation. The use of special counsels has been a standard practice for decades, utilized by administrations from both parties to ensure independent investigations in sensitive cases. Cannon's sudden concern over this process, which has been deemed lawful in numerous prior instances, suggests a selective and disingenuous application of legal principles designed to benefit Trump specifically. Moreover, this ruling sets a dangerous precedent for future cases involving political figures. By dismissing a well-substantiated case on such tenuous grounds, Cannon has effectively signaled that powerful individuals can evade prosecution by exploiting procedural loopholes and relying on sympathetic judges. This erodes public trust in the judicial system and reinforces the notion that justice in America is not blind but is instead heavily influenced by political affiliations and power dynamics.