Special counsel Jack Smith has formally appealed a federal judge’s dismissal of criminal charges against former President Trump over his alleged mishandling of classified information after finding the prosecutor was unlawfully appointed.
Smith’s office filed a notice saying it would appeal Florida-based U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling tossing out the 40 charges Trump faced to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Trump-appointed judge on Monday ruled that Attorney General Merrick Garland did not have the authority to appoint a federal officer with the “kind of prosecutorial power wielded by Special Counsel Smith.”
“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 wrote in a 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.”
The ruling marked a major victory for Trump — the first time one of his four criminal cases has been dismissed entirely — and came on the heels of an attempted assassination of the former president. Trump said the dismissal should be seen as the “first step” toward “Uniting our Nation” following the failed effort to take his life, calling for his other cases to be dismissed.
A spokesperson for the special counsel’s office said Monday that Cannon’s ruling “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.”
Special counsels have been utilized by presidential administrations of both political parties. Smith was appointed to investigate Trump’s handling of classified documents and efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election results. Recently, different special counsels have also investigated President Biden’s handling of classified documents and his son, Hunter Biden.
In the classified documents case, Trump was accused of mishandling classified records and attempting to obstruct the government’s retrieval of those records after he left the White House. He pleaded not guilty.
Cannon’s ruling dismissed charges against Trump’s co-defendants, as well: Walt Nauta, Trump’s valet, and a property manager of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate, Carlos De Oliveira.
Updated 4:10 p.m.