Smith presses Cannon to leave Thomas’s opinion on special counsels out of Trump case

Special Counsel Jack Smith urged Judge Aileen Cannon Friday not to apply Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s opinion in the recent presidential immunity ruling to former President Trump’s classified document case.

Smith agreed in the Friday filing to hold a briefing about the Supreme Court’s ruling, which grants U.S. presidents broad immunity from prosecution for official acts.

Smith asked Cannon to not factor in Thomas’s concurring opinion in the ruling, as Trump and his legal team have requested for her to do.

The former president’s team filed a motion to hit the brakes in the classified documents case days after the immunity decision was handed down, latching on to Thomas’s opinion questioning whether Smith had been lawfully appointed.

“If this unprecedented prosecution is to proceed, it must be conducted by someone duly authorized to do so by the American people. The lower courts should thus answer these essential questions concerning the Special Counsel’s appointment before proceeding,” Thomas wrote.

A day later, Cannon approved Trump’s request to delay a few deadlines in the case so the Supreme Court ruling could be evaluated.

Smith said in the Friday filing that Thomas’s argument against him was not relevant to the current case before the court, and that the Trump team itself had not initially raised it.

The 6-3 Supreme Court ruling dismantles some of Smith’s indictment of Trump, but Smith argues that the fallout from the immunity decision doesn’t affect the classified documents case because he has not charged Trump over official acts Trump made as president.

Cannon, a Trump appointee, faced criticism after she suspended the trial’s start date indefinitely, arguing she needed more time to examine pretrial motions Trump team’s filed asking her to toss the case. The trial date has still not been set.