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The Florida judge assigned to Donald Trump's classified documents case has the authority to make a number of decisions that could favor the former president, including pushing his trial date beyond the 2024 election, a legal expert has said.
There have been calls for Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump after he lost the 2020 election, to recuse herself from the federal case, in which the former president has pleaded not guilty to 37 charges, over concerns about her impartiality.
This includes previous decisions in the classified documents case that have benefited Trump, and temporarily delayed the investigation.
Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, said that Trump "lucked out" when Cannon was randomly assigned to the case, and that she could help benefit the former president in her future rulings.
"If she's so inclined, she could easily push this trial beyond the 2024 election, especially given that Trump has another criminal trial to prepare for in March," Rahmani told Newsweek, while referencing Trump's case in New York where he is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's hush money probe.
"Judges can manage their courtroom calendars as they see fit, so Judge Cannon will have almost unfettered discretion in setting her trial schedule and no appellate court would even consider overruling her on that.
"Judge Cannon will have full discretion to decide if evidence in the indictment from Trump's attorney, M. Evan Corcoran, will be admitted at trial, and Judge Howell's previous ruling allowing investigators access to that material will not bind Judge Cannon in any way," Rahmani added.
The concerns about whether Cannon should rule over the classified documents case focus on her previous decision to appoint a special master to review the thousands of seized materials removed from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort—a move the Department of Justice deemed unnecessary.
In December 2022, the conservative majority judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit unanimously ruled to reverse Cannon's decision while stating that she had "improperly exercised equitable jurisdiction" and that she shouldn't have intervened in the case.
"The law is clear. We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so," the 11th Circuit panel wrote in the motion.
Attorney Andrew Lieb, a legal and political analyst, said to understand why legal experts don't believe Cannon should reside over the classified documents case "all you have to do" is read the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision overruling the judge's decision to appoint a special master to review the materials.
"In simple terms, the very conservative and unanimous 11th Circuit, called her decision idiotic by writing 'The law is clear,' in reversing her," Lieb told Newsweek.
"They even went so far as to say she should never have heard the case in the first place based on jurisdiction issues. That being said, she is who got the case and hopefully, this time around she will apply the law and stay neutral."
If Cannon doesn't voluntarily recuse herself from the case, prosecutors can file a formal motion to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to have her removed on grounds that her "impartiality might reasonably be questioned," as per the legal standard.
The DoJ has been contacted for comment.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more