Trump scores major legal win after judge tosses classified documents case against him. Here's why it was dismissed and what's next.
In a major legal win for Donald Trump, the federal judge in Florida overseeing the classified documents case against the former president dismissed the charges against him on Monday.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump nominee, comes on the first day of the Republican National Convention and two days after what the FBI says was an assassination attempt on the former president at a Pennsylvania campaign rally over the weekend.
Trump praised the decision in a Truth Social post in the wake of Saturday’s attack, saying it “should be just the first step” and called for other criminal and civil cases against him to be dismissed.
What Judge Cannon did — and why
In Judge Cannon’s 93-page decision, she granted Trump’s request to dismiss the criminal indictment brought against him by special counsel Jack Smith because he lacked the authority to do so.
In court papers filed back in February, Trump’s lawyers argued that Smith’s appointment as special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 was unconstitutional under the appointments clause of the Constitution which they argue “does not permit the Attorney General to appoint, without Senate confirmation, a private citizen and like-minded political ally to wield the prosecutorial power of the United States.”
Earlier this month, Garland defended Smith’s appointment on Capitol Hill saying, "There are regulations under which the attorney general appoints special counsel. They have been in effect for 30 years, maybe longer, under both parties."
Cannon ultimately sided with Trump, therefore making Smith’s prosecution of the former president invalid. "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," Cannon wrote in her decision.
Cannon also noted in her ruling that her decision does not affect other jurisdictions, meaning it doesn’t apply to Smith’s federal election interference case against Trump.
A reminder of the classified documents case
In the Florida classified documents case, former president Trump was initially charged in June 2023 on 37 federal criminal charges stemming from his handling of classified government documents after he left the White House.
In July 2023 Trump was charged with three additional charges for allegedly trying to obstruct the Justice Department’s investigation.
The indictment alleged that documents kept in unsecured locations at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida “included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the U.S. and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for a possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.”
Other reactions to Judge Cannon’s decision
The White House is not commenting on Judge Cannon’s decision and is instead referring the media to the Department of Justice for comment. On Monday evening, the DOJ approved Smith's team to appeal the decision.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the ruling “breathtakingly misguided” and said it must be appealed. “This is further evidence that Judge Cannon cannot handle this case impartially and must be reassigned,” Schumer said in a post on X.
Read more: Social media reacts to dismissal of Trump's classified documents case
What’s next?
Hours after the ruling, Smith's office issued a statement and said they will appeal Cannon’s decision to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
“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," spokesperson Peter Carr said in a statement. "The Justice Department has authorized the Special Counsel to appeal the court’s order.”
NBC News reports that even if the appeals court does overturn Cannon’s ruling, it’s unlikely that the case would go to trial before the November election, even if it was expedited.
