Jack Smith Ain't Done Yet!

He will appeal the Trump documents espionage case.

U.S. District Judge Alieen Cannon threw out the indictment against former president Donald J. Trump. It was unprecedented to have a criminal case against a former president thrown out. But the whole thing was delayed indefinitely and Cannon showed her readiness to back a president who could abuse his power.

Cannon proved she is inexperienced and downright incompetent as a federal judge.

Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) celebrated the decision to throw out the 40 charges.

Democracy downslide.

In 2022, Cannon presided over the case of Donald J. Trump v. United States of America. She ordered the U.S. government to pause using materials seized from Trump's private club and residence in its investigation and granted Trump's request for a special master to review the material. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed and rebuked Cannon after it found she had wrongly exercised jurisdiction over the case. Cannon then dismissed Trump's lawsuit per instructions[clarification needed] from the Eleventh Circuit.

Following Trump's indictment in June 2023, Cannon oversaw a federal criminal case against Trump. Many legal experts, citing her handling of the civil case against Trump, called for her recusal from the case. Under Cannon, the case was considerably delayed from getting to trial, with Cannon granting multiple requests by Trump to extend pre-trial motions. Cannon dismissed the case against Trump in July 2024, ruling that the special counsel's appointment was unconstitutional.

Who says the rule of law matters? It isn't federal judge Alieen Cannon.

U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office said it would appeal the order, which could result in it eventually being overturned by a higher court. But for now at least, the dismissal by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon brings a stunning and abrupt halt to a criminal case that at the time it was filed was widely regarded as the most perilous of all the legal threats the Republican former president confronted.

Though the case had long been stalled, and the prospect of a trial before the November election already nonexistent, the judge’s order is a significant legal and political victory for Trump as he recovers from a weekend assassination attempt and prepares to accept the Republican nomination in Milwaukee this week.

It’s the latest stroke of good fortune in the four criminal cases Trump has faced. He was convicted in May in his New York hush money trial, but the sentencing has been postponed after a Supreme Court opinion that conferred broad immunity on former presidents. That opinion will cause major delays in a separate case charging Trump with plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Another election subversion case filed in Atlanta has been delayed by revelations of a romantic relationship between the district attorney and a special prosecutor she hired for the case.