Posted on 07/15/2024 7:31:55 AM PDT by george76
A federal judge in Florida threw out the prosecution of former President Donald Trump on Monday in the “documents” case because she ruled that Special Counsel Jack Smith had not been appointed in a constitutional or lawful manner.
Judge Aileen Cannon granted a defense motion after ruling that Smith, who was not confirmed by the U.S. Senate as other U.S. Attorneys have been in the past, could not lawfully bring the indictment against Trump in federal court.
“In the end, it seems the Executive’s growing comfort in appointing ‘regulatory’ special counsels in the more recent era has followed an ad hoc pattern with little judicial scrutiny,” Cannon wrote
....
As Breitbart News noted last month, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas suggested in a concurring opinion in Fischer v. United States — which said the Department of Justice had abused its power in prosecuting January 6th defendants under a statute about witness tampering — that Smith’s appointment was likely unconstitutional. Smith’s took aim at Thomas’s arguments in an unrelated filing in the case last week, which raised some legal eyebrows.
Smith brought charges against Trump in Florida — the site of Trump’s private residence at Mar-a-Lago — alleging that he had mishandled classified documents when he left office. Judge Cannon looked askance at the fact that Smith convened a grand jury in Washington, D.C. — a notoriously anti-Trump jurisdiction — rather than in Florida.
It is not clear if Cannon’s ruling affects Smith’s separate prosecution of Trump for January 6-related charges in Washington.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
If “Jack Smith” is his REAL name, I’m Bugs Bunny
God works in wonderful, and mysterious ways.
“””A federal judge in Florida threw out the prosecution of former President Donald Trump on Monday in the “documents” case because she ruled that Special Counsel Jack Smith had not been appointed in a constitutional or lawful manner.”””
Clarence Thomas gave her the ‘green light’ to give Jack Smith the old, heave-ho and she did it. Thank you Judge Cannon.
Our last chance to keep the constitution alive.
The case was a sham even before the recent USSC immunity decision.
not sure it matters at this point...with or without prejudice.
Turly claimed it was the most legit case against him, but still weak sauce
Just ‘dismissed’ ..... no mention of with/without prejudice
Judge Cannon wrote a VERY long opinion ...in the article, go to ‘opinion’ where highlighted in blue, so it’s a link, & that will take you to a pdf of the opinion you can download.
Since prosecutorial misconduct was not alleged, it would appear that the Justice Department is free to refile, but if Smith convened the grand jury, that indictment is also thrown out. Further, Judge Canon “looked askance” at the convening the grand jury in Washington, DC, rather than in Florida where the case is being tried, so even if the Grand Jury was legally convened, it is altogether possible that the indictment will be thrown out for venue shopping.
So the Jack Smith documents case and the Jan 6 case are dead. Smith will appeal of course but that is going to take a while and he will lose.
The Alvin Bragg case is going to be vacated by Judge Merchan due to the recent Supreme Court ruling.
It’s not a decision on the merits, so it would be without prejudice.
As a practical matter, it makes no difference; the lawfully appointed District Attorney is not going to convene a grand jury and obtain an indictment with what’s left of this loser of a case.
Roadrunner, may not survive this “fall” from grass.
May we be blessed with dumb enemies like her.
No doubt without prejudice. If somehow Garland validly appoints a special counsel, and gets the required Senate approval, the case can continue or start up anew. But all of that seems improbable.
Bwahaha.
Was gonna say something else, but I might want to be rude somewhere else later today.
Wouldn’t want to overdo it.
If he was not properly appointed, would he have standing to appeal?
Thank you all; I feared the case would continue to drag, since nothing is ever settled until it is settled the way the left wants, but this case, unlike President Trump, is dead.
That’s some good stuff!
Without. It will be refiled.
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