Dismissal of case was unsound

Judge Aileen Cannon’s dismissal of the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump is just wrong. The law is clear that Congress has passed legislation and funded special prosecutors numerous times.

But there is another legal principle that she ignored: Collateral issues cannot be raised as a defense in a criminal case. You cannot challenge the appointment of the judge or the way a law was passed.

The appointment of the prosecutor, if it was to be challenged, should have been done in a separate lawsuit, as it’s not relevant to the defendant’s guilt or innocence. A grand jury found that there was probable cause that the defendants violated the applicable law. At that point, the status of the prosecutor is irrelevant, as a jury has ruled.

Cannon’s reasoning would allow her to stop a criminal trial even after a guilty verdict by a jury. The dismissal allowed her to get out of a difficult case and at the same time do Trump a favor by delaying his trial until after the election.