Grrrrr: Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, initially assigned to oversee his case

[kpete]

The summons sent to former President Donald Trump and his legal team late Thursday indicates that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon will be assigned to oversee his case, at least initially, according to sources briefed on the matter.

Cannon's apparent assignment would add yet another unprecedented wrinkle to a case involving the first federal charges against a former president: Trump appointed Cannon to the federal bench in 2019, meaning that, if Trump is ultimately convicted, she would be responsible for determining the sentence – which may include prison time – for the man who elevated her to the role.

A federal grand jury voted to indict Trump on at least seven federal charges late Thursday as part of an investigation into his handling of classified documents, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. The indictment comes after more than 100 documents with classified markings were found at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in August 2022.

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and claimed again late Thursday that he was innocent.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-aileen-cannon-trump-appointee-initially-assigned-oversee/story?id=99956910

Link to tweet

?s=20

[Marius25]

1. I brought this up yesterday and everyone here chewed me out

saying how dare I post something so stupid and she can't possibly get this case.

[EYESORE 9001]

3. I was not among them

I do question whether this means the rump judge would be presiding over actual proceedings. I read that her name may have been there due to merde-a-log’o search warrant.

[brer cat]

2. What a terrible choice. She has already shown that she in for trump.

[VMA131Marine]

4. It's not a choice

Judges are assigned randomly. It’s just an unfortunate coincidence.

[getagrip_already]

8. Actually, it's more likely

That she was assigned because she is familiar with the case and is in the circuit.

It doesn't mean the doj won't object though. They may not.

Surely they knew it was likely. But there must be some recourse.

[JanLip]

6. Surely

This will be stopped. Who the hell did this. We know exactly what sentence she will give the orange baboon already. OMG

Jan

[hippywife]

5. This is what I was afraid of...

a Rittenhouse type situation due to the judge overseeing the case. She needs to recuse as she's already proved she's definitely in the bag for the former Oaf of Office.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. She needs to recuse herself....but won't since she's GOP.

[atreides1]

9. Wonderful

Any bets, on how long it takes her to dismiss the case based on the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct?

[Mz Pip]

10. Can she just dismiss the case?

Is that even possible?

[Marius25]

12. Yes she can.

[Happy Hoosier]

20. But it would be overturned on appeal... AGAIN. NT

[Marius25]

21. Before or after she dismisses the charges?

[Happy Hoosier]

22. Doesn't matter.

If she dismisses, DOJ will file an expedited appeal, and she will be overturned.

[gab13by13]

11. The main problem that she presents,

she will delay the trial until after the election.

Explain to me again how her name was randomly drawn, it wasn't randomly drawn the last time, Trump lawyers bypassed the system.

[tulipsandroses]

13. Well, he can't complain about being treated unfairly

He is on home turf with a trump friendly judge. If a jury finds him guilty, he can’t cry that democrats are treating him unfairly. He will, but..,

[Tommy Carcetti]

14. I think people might be misinterpreting this.

Court filings for the arraignment include her name. People assume she's been assigned to hear the arraignment.

The arraignment is in Miami.

Judge Cannon sits in Fort Pierce, which is over 100 miles north of Miami.

It would make no sense for one judge to travel 100 miles down to a place where there are multiple judges available to hear the case.

However, Judge Cannon did notoriously oversee the review of the documents that formed the basis for these charges.

Therefore, it's possible--and likely even, considering the logic of the situation--that her name was included simply because of her prior involvement on the case, not because she's been assigned to hear it.

Electronic court filings typically have a broad service list that includes all lawyers and individuals who have been involved in the case at some point.

[Marius25]

15. The crimes were committed in West Palm Beach

She was assigned the initial case, despite being in Fort Pierce. As a federal judge, she can be assigned to an arraignment in Miami.

[gab13by13]

17. She should be randomly assigned, correct?

She wasn't randomly selected the first time.

[Tommy Carcetti]

19. It was actually Judge Reinhart who signed off on the warrant.

He's based out of West Palm Beach, the closest SDFL courthouse from Mar a Lago.

Cannon--out of Fort Pierce, another SDFL courthouse but 50 miles north--was the judge assigned when Trump challenged the seizure of the documents. She then assigned the review to a special master, who worked up in New York. Eventually the appeals court dismissed the special master process and that was that.

The SDFL has 5 courthouses--Fort Pierce, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Key West.

Technically proceedings in the SDFL could take place in any one of those courthouses, and that has borne out in this case.

But I don't think they would simply have one judge travel from one courthouse to another to hear an arraignment, especially when there are multiple judges in Miami. Perhaps if it was the other way around, because Fort Pierce is a small outpost while Miami is the main courthouse. But not Fort Pierce to Miami.

[Effete Snob]

16. That's great news

The 11th Circuit is going to have more fun with her.

And, how much you want to bet that she ends up on the other side of the bench for some reason?

[gab13by13]

18. That will be fine with her,

her main job will be to delay a trial until after the election, if she is going to be the judge.

It is too unreal if she gets this case.

[Johnny2X2X]

23. I don't think this is decided yet

We'll probably learn next week. But she was handling aspects of the case before, so it would be normal for her to be mentioned in the filiings.

[honest.abe]

24. Unbelievable

[Bleacher Creature]

25. Take a deep breath and read this.

Link to tweet

[honest.abe]

27. Thank you. This helps.

You have to read all 4 of her comments to get the full gist.. especially number 4.

Here are comments 2,3 and 4.

2/Altho a judge's behavior in court generally doesn't form the basis for recusal, the 11th Circuit has ordered "reassignment" where a judge leans so heavily for a defendant they call their objectivity in the eyes of the public into question. This is from US v. Martin

3/This is persuasive authority that Judge Cannon must step aside if the case falls to her as a permanent assignment. Her court & certainly the 11th won't tolerate the damage it would do to their credibility if she failed to voluntarily recuse.

4/It is not clear Cannon is permanently assigned to the case. If she is, it's extremely unlikely it stays with her and as a last resort, DOJ will challenge her participation and win.

[Takket]

26. Uh... recusal????