Federal prosecutors asked an appeals court on Monday to restore Donald Trump’s rights classified documents casepush back former president‘s claims that the appointment of Jack Smith as special counsel violates the Constitution.
“The attorney general has validly appointed a special counsel who is adequately funded,” Smith’s team member, assistant special counsel James Pearce, wrote in a brief filed with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “In holding otherwise, the district court departed from binding Supreme Court precedent, misinterpreted the statutes authorizing the appointment of a Special Counsel, and inadequately considered the Attorney General’s multi-year history of special counsel appointments.”
US District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, last month granted a request by Trump’s lawyers to dismiss the indictment, arguing that Smith’s appointment as special counsel violated the Constitution’s appointments and appropriations provisions.
He also notes that attorneys general have appointed special counsels for more than 150 years, citing a 1998 law review article written by now-Judge Brett Kavanaugh that referred to the practice as a “deep-rooted tradition.”
The brief focuses heavily on the Supreme Court’s 1974 decision in United States v. Nixon, which upheld the enforceability of a subpoena issued by a special prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal.
In Nixon, the legality of a special counsel or prosecutor was not directly at issue, but the Supreme Court based its decision on the presumption that such appointments were permitted.
Cannon’s order dismissing Trump’s classified documents case cited that part of the Nixon decision as nonbinding, but Smith’s team argued Monday that the ruling was binding on lower courts.
“Except for the district court below, every court that has considered the question has concluded that the Supreme Court’s determination that those statutes authorized the Attorney General to appoint a Watergate Special Prosecutor was necessary to the existence of a justiciable controversy and therefore constituted a holding. closes the lower courts,” Pearce wrote.
Attorney General Merrick Garland Smith was appointed Investigate Trump’s handling of classified materials in 2022, as well as efforts to disrupt the 2020 presidential election, leading up to the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
Pearce said in a presentation Monday that his reasoning, if upheld, would have an earthquake effect on the federal government if Cannon was fired.
“If the Attorney General does not have the authority to appoint lower-level officers, this result will invalidate the appointment of every member of the Department who exercises significant authority and holds a continuing position, except for a few who are specifically identified by law,” Pearce said.
“The district court’s reasoning will also raise questions about hundreds of appointments in the Executive Branch, including the Departments of Defense, State, Treasury and Labor,” Pearce said. “The impossibility of this result underscores why the district court’s new findings are unreasonable.”
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement Monday that Cannon’s firing should be upheld.
“As we move forward to unify our nation, the repeal of the Florida Impeachment must not only be upheld, but must be immediately coupled with the dismissal of ALL Witch Hunts,” Cheung said, using a term adopted by Trump and his allies. Referring to the legal battles Trump is facing.
Cheung also called the incidents “political attacks” and described them as election interference as Trump seeks a second term as president.
Trump’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the filing.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that he intentionally withheld national defense information after leaving office and that he directed the deletion of security video at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Trump and his lawyers have often sought to delay or delay any trial on the indictments he faces until after the November general election.
Trump asked a New York judge this month to postpone further judgment court until voting day in the silent money business. Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a payment to an adult film star just weeks before the 2016 presidential election.
Sentencing set for September 18 it was before delayed After the Supreme Court from July 11 rule of immunity In the case of Trump’s interference in the federal election, he is also being tried by Smith’s team. Appeals process in a federal election case there is eessentially emade sure that the trial would not take place before election day.
The indictment on Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia will also not go to trial until November. Such was the case Because of this, one state stayed the appeals court may hear arguments challenging a judge’s refusal to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fanny Willis as a prosecutor.