This isn’t helping Donald Trump at all
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals stuck it to Trump again. Thank goodness we have some courts that rule based on the letter of the law instead of feeling some misguided sense of loyalty to the “president” who appointed them to lifetime jobs. Raw Story reported that the Court of Appeals has granted the DOJ’s request to fast track its review of Aileen Cannon’s order appointing a special master. Trump’s team, of course, made a nonsensical argument against fast tracking the review, telling the Court: “Trump’s team is already crunched for time dealing with the special master review and district court action. That includes going over 11,000 documents, totaling about 200,000 pages, to determine if they’re protected by the attorney-client or executive privilege and litigating any fights over those claims.” That’s their problem. They should have known what they were litigating before they went into Court.
One of the reasons O.J. Simpson escaped a murder conviction was because the prosecution asked questions to which they did not know the answers. That situation applies to Trump’s attorneys. They should have known what they were dealing with before filing their motion, but this was classic Trump: Throw a bunch of shit at the wall and see what sticks. Unfortunately for them, it’s not sticking very well. The Court of Appeals is now poised to review the entire order involving the appointment of a special master, and they will waste no time on their review.
That ruling aside, Trump has already gone sniveling to the Supreme Court about this issue. That’s going nowhere. Trump might have made one good appointment for himself with Aileen Cannon, but that’s only going to go so far. SCOTUS is already under increased scrutiny for its political rulings, and it is unlikely that court will risk further negative publicity for Donald Trump. Trump alleges that the Court of Appeals erred in overturning the part of Cannon’s order blocking the DOJ from continuing its review based on its criminal investigation. Trump’s lawyers, in essence, alleged that Judge Raymond Dearie has the experience necessary to review classified documents, which is ridiculous. Judge Dearie knows no more about classified documents than any other private citizen. The Court of Appeals did not err; they left such responsibility up to the agency that has experience in that area. Trump’s lawyers claim that “the public confidence in our system of justice” is eroded by shielding classified documents from public view, and that allegation is false on its face.
Justice Clarence Thomas has ordered the DOJ to respond within a week. While it may seem that Thomas is also in Trump’s pocket, Steve Vladeck, a Supreme Court expert at the University of Texas School of Law, said that if the DOJ has been given a week, SCOTUS does not view Trump’s application as an emergency. Vladek went on to say: “This delay doesn’t help Trump. At all. It’s a pretty big sign from Thomas that even he isn’t in a hurry, which does not bode well for Trump’s chances of getting the full Court to side with him.” SCOTUS can’t afford to side with Trump, and it is likely they will not.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years