Judge Cannon’s Latest Mar-a-Lago Ruling Just Got Benchslapped
In her ruling yesterday, Judge Elaine Cannon issued an injunction regarding some 100 documents bearing confidential signs confiscated from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. The 11th Circuit not only rejected Judge Cannon, it tried to expand in a number of ways. Judge Cannon had basically offended the law,
In my more than 25 years of practice as a criminal and civil litigation (including three years as US Assistant Attorney), I can’t believe I’ve read an appellate decision that was more contemptuous than a lower court. The 11th circuit sent a clear message to Judge Cannon and Trump: stop doing it.
In Trump’s La-La Land when it comes to executive privileges
Let’s take them one by one.
Circuit 1.11 (in note 4 of its decision) explicitly poured cold water on the idea that the FBI raid was designed solely to harass Trump:
The Supreme Court recognized an exception to this general rule – where “the threat of law enforcement against the plaintiffs is not made with the expectation of legitimate punishment, but rather by resorting to threats of arrest, confiscation and color prosecution. “. it’s part of the law’s plan to harass callers. The actor makes no such allegation here, and we don’t even see supporting evidence.
2. The Eleventh Circuit flatly rejected Judge Cannon’s conclusion that the prospect of facing a criminal trial was a disadvantage that Trump was entitled to protection:
Second, we find it unreasonable to insist on the applicant’s insistence that the criminal investigation would have caused him harm. “To bear the inconvenience and cost of prosecuting a crime, even by an innocent person, is one of the painful obligations of citizens. Kobaldick v. United States, 309 US 323, 325 (1940).
3. The 11th Circuit claimed that there were literally no relevant factors in favor of Trump granting his injunction:
In short, none of the Ritchie factors favors the exercise of fair jurisdiction in this matter. As a result, the United States is likely to amply demonstrate that the district court has abused its discretion in exercising jurisdiction over the plaintiff’s motion with respect to confidential documents.
4. The 11th Circuit also triggered Judge Cannon’s child division effort by saying that the intelligence community could carry out a national security review of 100 classified sign documents, but the FBI could not carry out any criminal work with these documents:
This distinction is unforgivable. through [Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence Division of the FBI] Kohler’s statement, the United States, made it clear how and why its national security review is inextricably linked to its criminal investigation. When it comes to national security issues, we must give “substantial weight to an agency’s affidavit”.
The “60 days” rule does not exist. Now is the time to blame Trump.
5. The 11th Circuit also supported the Justice Department’s argument that allowing the Special Counsel – or Trump’s defense team – to review 100 documents containing classified marks would be an “irreparable loss” to the United States.
The United States also argues that allowing the Special Prothonotary and Querel’s Counsel to separately review classified records would cause irreparable harm. we agree. The Supreme Court ruled that “for reasons too obvious to require in-depth discussion, the protection of classified information must be left to the wide discretion of the responsible agency and must include the wide discretion of the agency to determine whether its access Who can you have it? ” Therefore, the courts should order the examination of such documents only in the most exceptional circumstances. The record does not support a conclusion that this is such a situation.
6. Finally, the 11th Circuit initially found that the DOJ had already met the most important element of a final proceeding under the Espionage Act (18 USC Section 793 (d)).
Section 793 (d) states:
“Anyone who legally occupies [a document] National defense information that the owner had reason to believe could be used to harm the United States or benefit a foreign country … knowingly retains the same information and, at the request of the officer or employee, do not provide it, States United I am entitled to receive it ” violates the espionage law e “He will be … imprisoned for no more than ten years” intentionally placed for each document,
Trump needed (and got) a lot of help getting this corrupt
The 11th circuit will take place tomorrow:
The documents in question include “the unauthorized disclosure of information that could reasonably cause extremely serious damage to national security”.
The 11th Circuit has almost certainly chosen parallel language that conveys a message to Judge Cannon and Trump: the former president has no legal defense against an allegation of violating the espionage law. If he is found guilty, the charge will not be dismissed. If found guilty, the sentence will not be overturned.
In short, as long as the documents have been properly marked as classified in the first place, Trump is screwed.
In short, my take on the 11th Circuit’s response to Judge Cannon’s order was best captured by Vincent LaGuardia Gambini in his 1992 film opening statement. my cousin Vinnie,
“Everything that boy said was bullshit.”
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