This is just conjecture, but I’m betting that family court judge Aileen Cannon won’t dare to poke her head back up from behind her bench until the statute of limitations on judicial stupidity runs out in about 5 years.
Because in their official ruling on the DOJ’s emergency appeal, the 3 judge panel treated judge Cannon like the kid trying to tell the teacher that her dog ate her homework. Not only did the panel rule unanimously for the DOJ, including 2 Trump appointees, but they made it a community decision, with no single judge taking credit for writing the ruling, they all pitched in.
And the way they all pitched in was to pile on judge Cannon like 2 football teams scrambling for a fumble, with judge Cannon being the football. The ruling had two parts, first, it lifted judge Cannon’s stay on the FBI and DOJ from continuing to use the documents for both the criminal investigation, as well as the national security review. Second, they excluded the classified documents from the documents that the Special Master or Trump attorneys could review.
But the real insult in the ruling was the way that the appellate panel took Judge Cannon back to judicial kindergarten in their review. They started out with a patient, almost childlike explanation as to exactly why classified documents are so important, and must be protected at all costs.
That sport aside, they went on to explain in graphic detail as to why Trump never actually possessed the documents in the first place. They patiently explained that these classified documents were actually created by the CIA, or the NSA, or the DIA, or the FBI. Those documents were the proprietary possession of federally funded US agencies, and the fact that they let Trump read them did not make them his personal property.
And then, firmly in the groove, the 3 judge panel went for the kill shot. They bluntly educated Judge Cannon as to why the Trump legal team’s contentions over the issue of classification was nothing more than a bullshit distraction. They explained that whether or not Trump had declassified the documents, the classification issue had nothing to do with the Trump legal team providing evidence of Trump’s proprietary interest in those documents. And Trump’s legal team hadn’t presented a shred of evidence as to why those documents should revert back to Trump’s control.
Oh brother. I haven’t seen a spanking that bad since a soft core BDSM flick I caught as a teen. And the synopsis I saw of their ruling only makes me more confident that when the panel hears the full DOJ appeal of Judge Cannon’s original ruling, it’s Adios to the Special Master as well. Simply because the appellate court laid waste to every single argument the Trump team used to request the Special Master in the first place. Don’t touch that dial.
Excellent reporting!
I was tempted to post the initiation clip from Animal House where Kevin Bacon, wearing a diaper and on all fours gets whacked multiple times by Pledge Master Neidemeyer – with each whack saying “Thank you sir! May I have another?” But some might misconstrue it as being out of line as sexist since Judge Cannon is female. However, I CAN come up with a real life version (with a tad of embellishment) of a real-life version that was played out over and over again in old-school Catholic schools. Picture some poor kid with their hands extended, palms down if the nun really wanted the punishment of whacking that kid across the hands with one of those wooden pointer to register. And the embellishment part? With each whack of the hands, the kid knowing they’d damn well better exclaim “Thank you Sister! May I have another?” The more I hear about the appellate court’s ruling, the more that seems like what’s gone down in FL. The question at this point is whether judge Cannon will, having gotten her punishment learn not to piss off “Sister(s) Here’s-the-actual-law-so -learn-it-and-follow-it” I’d be curious as to what odds makers out there in Vegas where you live are giving on whether she has learned her lesson. Or not.
I predicted this outcome, simply because under the Presidential Records Act it does not even matter whether a document is classified. it belongs to The National Archives by statute, so at the very least Trump stole government property. if something was truly personal it is the National Archives to decide he can have it back after evaluating historical relevance.
For national security ex-Presidents are highly restricted and also legally obligated to build a Presidential Library to be run with National Archives in control. It must be big enough to store all the designated records of the administration.
Message recipients are never the first to see messages and the ex-President is never never allowed to read messages either until cleared by security clearance staff. They have to plan trips 2 weeks in advance,.since they no longer have as many Secret Service agents as when President