The federal judge presiding over the classified documents case of former US President Donald Trump in Florida dismissed the prosecution on Monday.
ADVERTISEMENTUS District Judge Aileen Cannon sided with defence attorneys who said the lawyer who filed the charges was illegally appointed – marking an abrupt conclusion to a criminal case that at the time was considered the most perilous legal threat to the Republican former president.
Trump had faced dozens of felony counts which accused him of illegally keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, as well as obstructing FBI efforts to retrieve them.
Defence lawyers had filed multiple challenges to the case in order to dismiss the charges.
One of these challenges asserted that special counsel Jack Smith had been illegally appointed under the US Constitution’s Appointments Clause, which governs the appointment of certain government positions.
They also argued his office was improperly funded by the Justice Department.
Judge Cannon agreed with their arguments – ruling that the entire case should be thrown out due to this unconstitutional appointment.
In a 93-page order, Judge Cannon wrote: “The Framers gave Congress a pivotal role in the appointment of principal and inferior officers. That role cannot be usurped by the Executive Branch or diffused elsewhere, whether in this case or in another case, whether in times of heightened national need or not.”
Smith’s team had vigorously contested the argument during hearings before the judge last month, saying that even if Judge Cannon agreed with the defence's argument – the proper correction would not be to dismiss the case.
The news removed a major legal threat to Trump on the first day of the Republican National Convention, where he is set to formally be confirmed as the party’s presidential nominee.