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A US judge has dismissed a criminal case over Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents, in a major legal victory for the former president days after he survived an assassination attempt.
Judge Aileen Cannon ruled on Monday that the appointment of Jack Smith, the outside lawyer chosen by the Department of Justice to manage the investigation, had violated the US constitution.
The judge, a Trump nominee, said attorney-general Merrick Garland’s 2022 appointment of Smith “effectively usurps” Congress’s authority to make such decisions, thereby “threatening the structural liberty inherent in the separation of powers”.
The dismissal of the case filed last year is a further boost to the former president ahead of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which begins on Monday. Trump is due to announce his choice for vice-president at the event.
Trump celebrated the decision on social media. “As we move forward in Uniting our Nation after the horrific events on Saturday, this dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts,” he wrote on his Truth Social site, before listing his various legal cases.
A spokesperson for Smith’s office said the dismissal “deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue”. Smith has been authorised by the DoJ to appeal against the order, the spokesperson added.
Cannon’s ruling came just two days after the former president survived an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, leaving him with a minor ear injury after he was shot.
It was Trump’s latest legal victory after a Supreme Court ruling this month that gave him broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts as president.
The classified documents case stems from sensitive government material that Trump transferred to his Mar-a-Lago residence after leaving the White House in 2021, which was later seized by FBI agents.
Agents found boxes of documents stored across the property including in a bathroom and shower. Among the charges against him were conspiracy to obstruct justice, concealing documents in a federal investigation and making false statements.
Trump’s lawyers had argued that there was no legal authorisation for Smith’s work. They pointed to the constitution’s appointments clause, which requires officials be appointed by the US president subject to Senate approval.
The former president’s lawyers said that under that clause the attorney-general was not permitted to appoint an individual “to wield the prosecutorial power of the United States” without Senate confirmation.
“Jack Smith is not an ‘officer’ under the statutes cited by attorney-general Garland,” Trump’s lawyers said in legal filings. “At best, he is an employee”.
But the DoJ stressed that under the appointments clause, Congress could allow department heads to appoint “inferior officers”, according to court documents.
Christopher Kise, a lawyer representing Trump, said in a statement that Cannon had “restored the rule of law and made the right call for America”. Smith “must now respect the rule of law, shut down his office, and end this unconstitutional abuse of power,” he added.
Smith has also filed a second case in federal court in Washington, dealing with Trump’s role in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential race. That case, heavily delayed by a number of appeals, alleges he conspired to interfere with the results, in which Joe Biden was elected president.
Cannon’s ruling echoed misgivings about the DoJ special counsel expressed by Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative, who wrote in a concurring opinion in the presidential immunity case that he had “serious questions” about the constitutionality of the appointment.
Smith is one of several special counsels appointed in recent years to manage politically sensitive investigations. A special counsel oversaw the probe into Biden’s handling of classified documents, while another was named to investigate the conduct of Hunter Biden, the president’s son, who was later charged with gun and tax offences.
The ruling from Cannon could jeopardise both federal criminal cases. Meanwhile, two other criminal cases pending against Trump in state courts are also hitting hurdles.
Trump was convicted earlier this year in connection with what New York prosecutors alleged was a “hush money” scheme to silence a porn actor who alleged she had an affair with him before the 2016 election. Sentencing in that case had been originally set for July 11 but has been adjourned to September after the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision, as Trump’s lawyers challenge the verdict.
A separate indictment accusing Trump of interfering with the 2020 polls in the state of Georgia has been put on hold while an appeals court decides whether the prosecutor, Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis, should be forced to step aside from the case.
Additional reporting by James Politi
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