Appeals court gives Judge Cannon ultimatum over Jack Smith’s final report
Aileen M. Cannon, United States District Judge, Southern District of Florida, Image via Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons (Left). Former special counsel Jack Smith, Image via Screengrab / CSPAN (Right).
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon just got a stern warning from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to do her job before her superiors take over.
That's according to Politico legal correspondent Josh Gerstein, who reported Monday on the Eleventh Circuit's order regarding the handling of former Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith's final report. Appellate judges told Cannon she has 60 days to act on the remaining motions to unseal Smith's report, or else the Eleventh Circuit will take matters into their own hands.
"Petitioners filed their motions on February 14 and February 24, 2025, and filed notification on July 7 and July 10, 2025, informing the district court that their motions had been fully briefed for more than 90 days," the two-page order read, pointing out that those who have filed the motions "have established undue delay in resolution of their motions to intervene."
"To date, the district court has not ruled or conducted any other further proceedings on the pending motions," judges added.
Cannon — who President Donald Trump appointed to the Southern District of Florida in 2020 — was the presiding judge overseeing Smith's criminal investigation into Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Cannon was routinely criticized throughout the case for "slow-walking" the legal process in what was widely regarded as the strongest of Trump's four criminal cases.
The Trump appointee ultimately dismissed Smith's 37 felony indictments against Trump after the Supreme Court granted Trump absolute broad criminal immunity for anything deemed an "official act" in the 2024 Trump v. United States case. Cannon cited Justice Clarence Thomas' argument in Trump v. United States that Smith's appointment as special counsel was not in line with the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which lays out the Senate confirmation process.
Despite Thomas' argument, there have been multiple DOJ special counsels who were not confirmed by the U.S. Senate whose investigations nonetheless were conducted without impediment. No special counsel since 1999 has been confirmed by the Senate due to existing DOJ procedures allowing an attorney general to appoint a special counsel to oversee an independent investigation.
Click here to read the Eleventh Circuit's order in full.
