Judge Aileen Cannon, appointed to the federal bench by President Trump, now oversees the former president’s trial on charges of mishandling national secrets and obstructing justice. Not including this one, 224 cases have been assigned to Cannon, and just four have gone to trial over a total of 14 days. So neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys nor jurors nor the public truly know what to expect.
There are worrying signs, however. When Trump brought a civil case to recover some of these very same documents, Cannon wrote a poorly argued decision in his favor that, among other things, strongly suggested that Trump deserved special legal status as a former president: “the stigma associated with the subject seizure is in a league of its own.” Unsurprisingly, she was largely overruled by an appeals panel, which said Cannon “abused” discretion in requiring an outside review of the material.
Though we have not argued for her recusal, federal law states that a judge must “disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” Though reasonableness is in the eye of the beholder, there are surely red flags here.
We’ve already seen two notable developments early in the criminal proceedings. First, she has ordered the Trump defense team to begin the process of getting security clearances so they can handle classified materials. That seems sound; the defense would be hobbled if Trump’s attorneys were unable to scrutinize the documents at the heart of the case.
More questionable is the fact that Cannon just set an Aug. 14 date for Trump’s trial, a nearly unheard-of turnaround that’s left legal observers perplexed. It’s unlikely the trial will actually start then, but the date still signals Cannon is fast-walking, not slow-walking, the proceedings — a move that could well have serious consequences for both sides in such a complex trial.
Is the move a favor to Trump, to try to get proceedings out of the way before the 2024 primary calendar heats up? It’s a question we shouldn’t have to be asking.
