After United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida Aileen Cannon dismissed the classified documents case against President Donald Trump, ruling that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutional, watchdog groups are petitioning Cannon to drop her gag order and allow all documents to be released, reports Salon.
Nearly a year since President Biden's Justice Department appealed Cannon's original ruling — an appeal that was dropped when Trump won the 2024 election — the public has yet to see Smith's full report on Trump's handling of the classified documents.
Nonpartisan watchdog group American Oversight has filed a petition for a writ of mandamus with the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals requesting the release of the report. The court order would vacate Cannon's order, under which "the documents are exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests," according to Salon.

American Oversight, Salon reports, has repeatedly asked Cannon to vacate her gag order to no avail, and the watchdog group feels that releasing the report will shed light on FBI Director Kash Patel, who claimed in his confirmation hearings that Trump declassified the documents in question before he left office.

“As the Trump administration continues to target its perceived political enemies over the alleged handling of classified documents, the public is still being denied access to special counsel Smith’s findings about Trump’s own mishandling of classified documents,” Chioma Chukwu, the executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement.

“Transparency isn’t optional in a democracy. The public has a right to know what Special Counsel Smith found, and the Justice Department cannot continue to withhold a report that should have been released nearly a year ago under federal law. By keeping this order in place, Judge Cannon is undermining both accountability and the rule of law," Chukwu said.

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