Double Blow

Aileen Cannon Dealt Double Blow in Two Weeks

Story by Maya Mehrara

South Florida district judge Aileen Cannon faced two blows within two weeks as Republicans and Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW) called for her removal from the classified documents case and a new report alleges she failed to disclose her attendance at paid seminars on three occasions.

Cannon received heavy backlash recently after some Republicans alleged that she mishandled former President Donald Trump's classified documents case and urged a Florida appeals court to remove her from the case, as Newsweek previously reported.

The district judge appointed by Trump in 2020 presided over Trump's lawsuit to review the materials seized from Mar-a-Lago in 2022, as well as the criminal case regarding the classified documents following his indictment in 2023.

Newsweek reached out to Cannon's office for comment via email and will update the article if a response is received.

Cannon's calls for removal stemmed from her overseeing a federal criminal case against Trump in 2023, in which the former president faces 40 charges for allegedly mishandling sensitive materials after he left the White House in 2021, storing them at Mar-a-Lago. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, calling it a "political witchhunt."

The district judge dismissed the case in July, ruling that Special Counsel Jack Smith's appointment was unconstitutional.

In the amicus brief filed by Republicans requesting Cannon's removal from the classified documents case in support of Smith, they alleged the judge made "grave errors" and urged the court to appeal its decision.

The brief includes ex-government officials, law professors, and pro-democracy groups. It comes as part of the ethics watchdog CREW's request for Cannon's removal in a statement released on September 3. The watchdog said Cannon should be reassigned in the federal classified documents case against Trump if the Circuit Court of Appeals reverses and remands her decision.

The organization alleged that Cannon's actions in the case favored Trump, including her decision to grant Trump's request for a special master to review the documents under executive privilege, her call for jury instructions favorable to Trump, and her ultimate dismissal of the case.

In the press release, CREW President Noah Bookbinder said, "At every possible opportunity, Judge Cannon has demonstrated her apparent bias in favor of Donald Trump."

"She has at every stage made this case more difficult than the law mandated, and she then dismissed it on largely unprecedented grounds, delivering a significant win to Trump. Should the Court reverse her decision, it must also ensure that the case is reassigned to allow it to proceed fairly and expeditiously and to help restore the credibility of the federal court system."

A report by ProPublica published on Tuesday alleged that Cannon broke a 2006 rule stating that judges must report attending paid seminars that could influence decisions and disclose attendance for such events through forms within 30 days of the event.

The ProPublica report alleges that Cannon failed to disclose that she attended a banquet at the Law and Economics Center at George Mason University in May 2023, and also attended legal colloquiums hosted by George Mason in Sage Lodge, Montana, in 2021 and 2022.