Jack Smith Moves to Reverse Trump Case Ruling

United States – U. S. Special Counsel Jack Smith, on Monday, sought the reinstatement of the criminal case filed against former president Donald Trump for holding sensitive documents after a lower court dismissed the indictment in July, as per a legal filing.

In the same brief, Smith and a team of attorneys requested the Atlanta-based US Court of Appeal for the Eleventh Circuit to reverse Cannon’s decision, which she made on July 15, where she noted that Smith lacked a proper mandate to present the case, as reported by Reuters.

Legal Basis for Special Counsel Appointment Challenged

“Congress has bestowed on the Attorney General, like the heads of many Executive Departments, broad authority to structure the agency he leads to carry out the responsibilities imposed on him by law,” they wrote.

“The district court’s contrary view conflicts with an otherwise unbroken course of decisions, including by the Supreme Court, that the Attorney General has such authority, and it is at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government.”

Justice Department Defends Smith’s Appointment

The previous Justice Department statement was that it would appeal the ruling by the judge.

The chief justice’s office, through Smith, also requested the appellate court set a date for the oral argument in the same brief filed on Monday.

Cannon, a Trump nominee to the bench, determined that Garland’s pick of Smith earlier in 2022 was unconstitutional. She also added that his budget, which is funded by an indefinite appropriation, was unlawful.

Trump’s legal team, prior to hearings, had raised the legal basis of Smith’s selection, arguing that the Office of the Special Counsel was not formulated by Congress and that Smith was not approved by the Senate.

Trump’s campaign noted on Monday that the court should not grant Smith’s petition and that all other cases against the former president should be dismissed.

Trump Campaign Pushes Back Against Reinstatement

“Not only should the dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida be affirmed, but be immediately joined by a dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts. The Democrat Justice Department coordinated ALL of these Political Attacks, which are an Election Interference conspiracy against Comrade Kamala’s Political Opponent, President Trump. Let us come together to END all Weaponization of our Justice System,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.

Cannon’s decision has, however, drawn serious criticism from various attorneys specializing in this area of law who have said that Cannon’s decision cuts across past court decisions, which all supported the legal nature of the rules that the Department of Justice has used for years to appoint special counsels.

“The Attorney General validly appointed the Special Counsel, who is also properly funded,” Smith’s office wrote, adding that Cannon had “deviated from binding Supreme Court precedent” and also “misconstrued the statutes that authorized the Special Counsel’s appointment.”

Cannon’s decision to dismiss the case was a legal win for Trump, which was preceded by the Supreme Court ruling that Trump had absolute criminal immunity from prosecution for actions he undertook while in office.

Broader Implications for Trump’s Legal Battles

It is a Supreme Court ruling that has had significant consequences for the second criminal case against Trump, in which Smith was legally assigned, in which Trump was accused of attempting to influence the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Smith has until Friday to inform the judge presiding over the election subversion case how he will proceed after the Supreme Court ruling.

Trump, who is contesting in the 2024 presidential election against Kamala Harris, the Vice President, was convicted in May in the New York state charges over enforcement of payments to a porn star to conceal an extramarital affair that threatened to emerge days before the 2016 election, as reported by Reuters.

His sentencing has been rescheduled after the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.

In the case of documents, Trump was charged with an offense: he knowingly retained national security documents at his personal property, Mar-a-Lago in Florida, after he left office in 2021 and interfered with government measures to recover the documents.