Special Counsel Jack Smith will appeal a federal judge’s ruling earlier on Monday dismissing former President Trump’s classified documents indictment, according to Smith’s spokesman.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled that Smith was not lawfully appointed, ordering that Trump’s charges be dismissed.
“The dismissal of the case deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue that the Attorney General is statutorily authorized to appoint a Special Counsel,” Peter Carr, spokesman for Smith’s office, said in a statement.
“The Justice Department has authorized the Special Counsel to appeal the court’s order,” he continued.
Smith’s appeal will first go to a three-judge panel on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, though the issue could ultimately end up before the Supreme Court.
Monday’s ruling tosses Trump’s 40 criminal charges that accused him of mishandling classified information and obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve those records from Mar-a-Lago following his presidency.
It marked the first time Trump has gotten one of his criminal indictments dismissed. The judge ruled that Smith wasn’t apppointed in accordance with the Constitution’s Appointments Clause. Her decision did not address the merits of Trump’s charges.
“The bottom line is this: The Appointments Clause is a critical constitutional restriction stemming from the separation of powers, and it gives to Congress a considered role in determining the propriety of vesting appointment power for inferior officers,” Cannon, a Trump appointee, wrote in her 93-page ruling.
“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.”