The ruling removes one of the biggest hurdles for the Department of Justice from examinationwhich is investigating the mishandling of government documents from the Trump presidency – Announced CNN.
A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit of the US Court of Appeals has overturned US District Judge Eileen Cannon’s order to appoint a so-called special expert to examine thousands of documents found in Trump’s home to determine what was inadmissible. According to the court, the judge already He shouldn’t have interfered.
The law is clear. We cannot write a rule that allows a subject of a search warrant to prevent government investigations after the warrant has been executed. And we can’t write a rule that only allows ex-presidents to do that
Books of the Court of Appeal.
According to the Eleventh Circuit, either approach would represent a “radical rearrangement of our case law limiting federal courts’ involvement in criminal investigations” and “both would violate the separation of powers.”
According to court filings, the Justice Department is investigating him for obstruction of justice, misappropriation of government records, and violations of the Espionage Act. The investigation became public with the search in August, which came after investigators obtained evidence they said indicated Trump did not comply with subpoenas for classified documents stored at his Florida home.
The opinion — issued jointly by the three Republican justices — rejected Trump’s arguments about why a special expert was needed. According to the court, only in exceptional circumstances should courts intervene in Ministry of Justice investigations that are still in their infancy, and this requirement is not met here.
This protects against unnecessary judicial interference in the course of criminal investigations – this is up to the executive branch
Court books.
The appeals court said the new ruling will take effect within seven days, unless one of the parties involved in the case successfully requests an order – the so-called stay – suspending the entry into force of the decision until the appeal is decided.
A source familiar with the discussions told CNN that Trump’s legal team has not yet decided whether to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, but is considering the possibility.
The same laws apply to the former president
The appeals court took aim at an argument in ordering the special expert that Trump deserves special treatment because he is a former president.
It is truly extraordinary that an arrest warrant could have been executed in the home of a former president – but not in a way that would affect our legal analysis or give the judiciary permission to intervene in an ongoing investigation.
said the court.
The Eleventh District Court wrote that creating this “special exception” would go against our nation’s fundamental principle that our laws apply to everyone, regardless of wealth or rank.
The three-judge panel that issued the ruling is made up of Republican presidential appointees, including two Trump appointees, Brett Grant and Andrew Beshear. Both attorneys previously indicated in a ruling relating to the case that they believed Judge Cannon crossed the mark with his ruling.
The third, Chief Justice William Pryor of the Court of Appeals, is a George W. Bush appointee who has repeatedly demonstrated his conservative leanings on many controversial issues.
In the weeks following the August search, Trump requested and received a court order from Cannon to appoint a special counsel. Brooklyn Chief Justice Raymond Derye was commissioned by Cannon to lead a review of the thousands of surviving documents.
In an oral argument in the 11th Circuit case, Trump’s attorney, James Trusty, said only about 900 of the documents in question are in dispute. Trump’s legal team says the documents belong to the former president Personal documentsand should remain outside the realm of investigation.
Justice Department lawyers argued that the special counsel’s process could drag on for weeks, if not months, hindering examination of documents. Without access to the other documents, prosecutors said they would not be able to cross-examine witnesses about the materials found at Mar-a-Lago along with the classified documents.
The DOJ investigation is now being led by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, who was hired last week. Smith took over the investigation shortly before the Eleventh Circuit Court heard arguments from the parties to the case. In filings, he said he agreed with the position taken by federal prosecutors. He promised that his appointment would not slow down the pace of the investigations he had managed.
(Cover photo: Donald Trump. Photo: Pete Marovich/Getty Images)
