• News & Politics
  • Culture
  • Food
  • Science & Health
  • Money
  • Life Stories
  • Video
  • Reviews
    • Lifestyle
      • The New Sober Boom
      • Getting Hooked on Quitting
    • Education
      • Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous
      • Is College Necessary?
    • Finance
      • Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear
      • Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset
    • Crypto
      • Investing
        • SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters
        • 'Dark' Personalities Drawn to BTC
Profile Log In/Sign Up Saved Articles Go Ad-Free Logout
subscribe
Help keep Salon independent
Newsletter
Profile Login/Sign Up
Saved Articles Go Ad-Free Logout
  • News & Politics
  • Culture
  • Food
salon logo
  • Science & Health
  • Money
  • Video

"Unreasonable hurdles": Legal experts say Jack Smith could seek Judge Cannon's removal

Smith could have enough "ammunition" to remove Cannon if she doesn't reverse her "clear error," experts say

By Tatyana Tandanpolie

Staff Reporter

Published February 21, 2024 10:24AM (EST)

Special Counsel Jack Smith delivers remarks on a recently unsealed indictment including four felony counts against former U.S. President Donald Trump on August 1, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Special Counsel Jack Smith delivers remarks on a recently unsealed indictment including four felony counts against former U.S. President Donald Trump on August 1, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
--

Shares

Facebook
Twitter
Reddit
Email

As special counsel Jack Smith mulls whether to petition the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn at least one of U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon's recent decisions, he should also consider asking the court to remove her from the case, legal experts argue. In a Tuesday analysis for Slate, Brookings Institution senior fellow Norm Eisen and Joshua Kolb, an attorney and former U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee law clerk, urge Smith to seek Cannon's reassignment in former President Donald Trump's classified documents case, in part, because Smith has already filed a reconsideration motion for Cannon's latest decision to unseal the identities of two dozen potential witnesses. 

"The 'clear error' Smith identifies is striking: He alleges that Cannon applied the wrong legal standard in making this decision, requiring him to make a far more stringent showing than should be needed to protect these names," Kolb and Eisen write. "In his motion for reconsideration, Smith shows that the case law—including the very cases Cannon herself cited in her order—does not establish the unreasonable hurdles she wants him to clear." 

Cannon ordered Trump to respond to Smith's motion by Friday, which the experts argue will force her hand. "Either she reverses her position—which would be an admission that she was fundamentally mistaken about the law in a way that caused 'manifest injustice'—or she leaves her ruling in place, putting individuals in jeopardy and twisting the law to help Trump," they write, adding that Smith could then have enough "ammunition" to pursue her removal from the case.

Smith could also seek an appeal in the 11th Circuit under the Classified Information Procedures Act should Cannon rule against his petition to redact, summarize or withhold classified information for even a single document. "Should Smith appeal either the witness issue or a CIPA one, he would also be permitted to ask the 11th Circuit to reassign the case to a different judge under the law of that circuit," Eisen and Kolb write. 


MORE FROM Tatyana Tandanpolie

Advertisement:
  • Home
  • About
  • Staff
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Service
  • Archive
  • Go Ad Free

Copyright © 2025 Salon.com, LLC. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. SALON ® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com, LLC. Associated Press articles: Copyright © 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


DMCA Policy