Just two days after Saturday’s failed assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania, former President Donald Trump has dodged another bullet.
On Monday, a district judge dismissed Trump’s classified documents case, citing the illegality of special counsel Jack Smith’s appointment as prosecutor in the matter.
In the 93-page option dismissing the charges, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division, agreed with defense attorneys that Smith’s appointment as special counsel violated statutory authority.
The Superseding Indictment is dismissed because Special Counsel Smith’s appointment violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution,” the ruling stated.
The Appointments Clause requires that officers be nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. It further differentiates between courts deemed “principal” compared to “inferior” officers, and says that department heads may appoint inferior officers if Congress has passed legislation allowing them to do so.
“Up to this juncture, the Court has proceeded under the premise, advanced by Special Counsel Smith, that he is an ‘inferior Officer,’ not a principal officer requiring Presidential nomination and Senatorial consent,” the ruling further stated. “Defendants and the Meese amici contest this assertion, and it is a point worthy of consideration given the virtually unchecked power given to Special Counsel Smith under the Special Counsel Regulations. Ultimately, however, after examining the broad language in Supreme Court cases on the subject—and seeing a mixed picture, even if a compelling one in favor of a principal designation—the Court elects, with reservations, to reject the principal-officer submission and to leave the matter for review by higher courts.”
In the end, the judge was not able to deem Smith’s appointment as Special Counsel fell within constitutionally defined limits.
“Upon careful study of the foundational challenges raised in the motion, the Court is convinced that Special Counsel’s Smith’s prosecution of this action breaches two structural cornerstones of our constitutional scheme—the role of Congress in the appointment of constitutional officers, and the role of Congress in authorizing expenditures by law,” the ruling stated. “In the end, there does appear to be a ‘tradition’ of appointing special-attorney-like figures in moments of political scandal throughout the country’s history. But very few, if any, of these figures actually resemble the position of Special Counsel Smith. Mr. Smith is a private citizen exercising the full power of a United States Attorney, and with very little oversight or supervision.”
The case is just one of several that many Trump supporters have long considered to be nothing more than a political means to hurt the former president’s chances of winning the 2024 presidential race. While the verdict is still out on who will reside in the White House after this November’s election, this latest ruling was, indeed, another victory for the Trump team and his supporters throughout the country. It is also a boon for gun owners, who have a more Second Amendment-friendly candidate in Trump over Biden.
national divorce.
“national divorce.”
Likely not possible; there would be no nation existing at all.
Note: No one has a plan for what to do with the rump nation, if it happened. No one has a plan for continued operations of either segment. “The Samson Option” isn’t really going to “settle the hash”.
What does this have to do with guns?
Oh, nevermind, you’re just making it even more clear this is just a pro-Trump site…
That’s silly.
This is an anti-jsled site.
Enjoy the lega.l bu.tt se.x and dru.gs.
national divorce.
And thank you for supporting Trump by commenting here. Large numbers of clicks at a pro Trump site are helpful.
“What does this have to do with guns?”
For persons who want only directly gun-related subject matter, the TTAG website also caters to that segment of visitors. And, such persons can read and comment here on those articles.
Political articles can be simply ignored, thus engendering zero comments for those uninterested.
You sound upset for someone who seemingly never talks about guns.
“What does this have to do with guns?”
News like this makes a certain segment of the population act crazy. Be careful out there.
jsled,
You really don’t actually read the comments on here, do you?? Just admit it (we don’t GAS). Yes, we have a few Trump partisans – but we have just as many (or more) who don’t much like teh Donald, and are quite open about that (I should know, I am one of those). Did not vote for teh Donald in ’16 or ’20 (despite the fact that he was the ‘lesser of two evils’, both times). I literally wrote in “Bullwinkle J. Moose”, both times. Senile Joe is such a complete dumpster fire that I was prepared to hold my nose and vote for Trump, this time.
And I wavered, after the debate. Senile Joe was a SCOAMF, but Trump wasn’t much better; I was conflicted. NOW??? I will vote for Trump if he’s in a pine box – ANYTHING is better than letting you Leftist/fascists have another shot at destroying our Constitutional republic. You’ll cheat to win at the ballot box (or the graveyard), you’ll play absurd lawfare games, and you haven’t met a portion of the Constitution you are actually willing to uphold.
Sod off, Swampy.
Go fuck yourself jissfed!
I’ll bet the fascist left is really regretting not just gunning Trump down during the Mar-a-Lago raid.
If he wants to live to get sworn in again he needs to dump all .gov protection and hire a private firm to protect him and his family.
“On Monday, a district judge dismissed Trump’s classified documents case, citing the illegality of special counsel Jack Smith’s appointment as prosecutor in the matter.”
It’s only a district court; an appeal will follow; nothing to see here, move along.
How long will that take? They wanted him off the campaign trail.
“How long will that take? They wanted him off the campaign trail.”
An appeal can take a matter of days; death by a thousand cuts. A reversal of the district court can keep the Special Counsel alive, and Trump impaired.
Trump can be convicted, even as President, for “crimes” not committed as part of official acts. Then the underlying question, (can a sitting president be jailed for crimes committed before winning an election?) presents a really new “constitutional crisis”.
We live in interesting times.
Everyone take a deep breath. This is the standard way the legal system operates.
Now how does it relate to firearms? Well While Trump was no Ronald Reagan on guns. (and I will argue the bump stock ban was a strawman argument) He was significantly better than any other option.
If and when Trump wins, we will have in the Executive Office a man who literally has experienced many of the abuses our founders did in the 1700s. He will be a leader who saw the rampant abuse of a central government and may well begin the process of reigning in the power and overreach of the Judicial branch. Which in many ways has abused its power more than the British ever would have considered.
Literally every one of our first ten amendments was written by men who had experienced the over reach of the imperial government. Since the 1800s we have not had a Chief Executive who was on the receiving end of such abuses.
So we stand a better than average chance of seeing radical changes in the present power base in the Imperial Government
I think Trump made a mistake with JD Vance. Trump has insufficient coattails to be effective in a second term, and JD Vance brings nothing of political clout to discipline the Republicrats who still run the politics of the party (this is always the problem with “outsiders” being installed as leaders).
Vance can produce no more votes than can Trump alone.
What he does bring to the table are solid 2A credentials, retired Marine, and summa cum laude at Yale Law School. Sure he is a tyro, but I watched him when he was introduced at the convention today. He stands head and shoulder above everyone else and he knows how to work a room. Ohio may not be a swing state anymore, but it doesn’t hurt to have it on the Republican side of the vote.
“What he does bring to the table are solid 2A credentials…”
Yes, a real red meat politician. But that is irrelevant to the vote count in the House and Senate, where politics actually gets done. The Republicrat elites still run the show, and Trump has poked them in the eye by being elected, and having no one with clout to deal with Congress and the elites.
Politics is not, never has been, about principles, but about wrangling enough votes to get things done. Trump selected another reason for resisting a change among the power structure of the Repubs.
Politics is about pure power, and a one-term president is a lame duck from day one. Obama set the stage for today; power rules. Repubs nodded in agreement, and went back to their country clubs.
BTW, the Repubs have no “bench” for after Trump. Vance is not a future presidential candidate
Yes, I will vote for Trump, even if he is a dunce about realpolitik within the nation.
If he gets taken out his replacement will make him look liberal. Honestly I think this was a choice in case someone tried to get froggy with other options if everyone behaved. Love the guy and weird to have anything near my demographic represented anywhere but I can only imagine everything is a bit up in the air for plans coming into contact with reality.
I’ll bet this really po’d that violent left wing idiot Miner49er. All those trolling mentally-ill TDS posts he made on the subject, now wasted.
I would imagine various troll farms bot posters, political/government/academic/corporate influencers and other crowd sourced posters are a bit busy re damage control. Been great actually seeing posts about various weapons on /k/ again.