Trump Classified Docs Case Dismissed, Judge Finds Special Counsel Appointment Unconstitutional

Judge Eileen Cannon has dismissed Donald Trump's classified documents case, ruling that the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutional.

"The Special Counsel’s position effectively usurps that important legislative authority, transferring it to a Head of Department, and in the process threatening the structural liberty inherent in the separation of powers," Cannon wrote in her decision. "He can be appointed and confirmed through the default method prescribed in the Appointments Clause, as Congress has directed for United States Attorneys throughout American history."

"Dismissal of this action is the only appropriate solution for the Appointments Clause violation."

The ruling comes after Judge Cannon had indefinitely postponed the trial, and followed a May hearing in which Trump and co-defendant Walt Nauta argued that the Justice Department’s Special Counsel’s Office decision to prosecute the valet was “both selective and vindictive.”

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