'Undue': Judge Cannon slammed by appeals court after Jack Smith's report on Trump delayed

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Raw Story

November 3, 2025 2:15PM ET


The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon to stop delaying the release of the remaining parts of special counsel Jack Smith's report on President Donald Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents.

In September, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and American Oversight asked the appeals court to force Cannon to release the report. Cannon had blocked former President Joe Biden's Justice Department from releasing the report in January.

"By keeping this order in place, Judge Cannon is undermining both accountability and the rule of law," American Oversight Director Chioma Chukwu noted. Trump appointed Cannon during his first term.

"There is no legitimate reason for the report's continued suppression, and it should be posted on the court's public docket without further delay," Knight Institute Director Jameel Jaffer insisted.. On Monday, the appeals court ordered Cannon to stop delaying the report's release.

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/aileen-cannon-jack-smith-report/

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Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca11.93247/gov.uscourts.ca11.93247.11.0.pdf

REFERENCES

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143492789
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143539884

[chicoescuela]

1. Loose Cannon know SCROTUS will back her up and nothing will ever come out.

[johnnyfins]

2. "But if I release it, he wont nominate me for

scotus"

[progressoid]

3. Ugh...

I wish that was a joke.

[johnnyfins]

16. It IS a jole. Too bad this admin makes the joke

Real, right????

[debsy]

6. Correction: SCROTUS!

[johnnyfins]

15. ..

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Appeals Court should threaten Cannon with state bar discipline,

such as suspension, or better, disbarment.

[The Wizard]

5. Obstructing justice

is indictable.

[riversedge]

13. But, Cannon has been given 60 days to comply!!---if she does not do so by then, they would

have a better chance of someone hitting on her license. IMHO

"Accordingly, Petitioners have established undue delay in resolution of their motions to intervene and the petitions for writs of mandamus are HELD IN ABEYANCE for a period of 60 days to allow the district court to fully resolve the motions."
.............

[Akakoji]

7. Can she appeal this?

Or does the GOP DOJ get involved?

[Grins]

8. So they gave her 60 days to comply.

So about 02 January…?

And if she doesn’t…?

[Scrivener7]

11. She won't.

[onenote]

20. My guess: she will comply with the order. And she'll probably deny the motion seeking release of the report.

At which time, the parties seeking release of the report will appeal that decision to the 11th Circuit, which may or may not reverse Cannon, but probably won't do so for months and months.

The order from the 11th Circuit doesn't compel her to grant the motions seeking release of the report.

[Polybius]

24. Sure

No, Jack Smith could not release his final report on his own. As a special counsel appointed by the Attorney General (AG), he was required by regulation to submit the report confidentially to the Attorney General, who then decided whether and how much of it to make public.

Attorney General Merrick Garland followed this procedure, but the public release of the report was complicated by ongoing legal battles and court orders:

Submission Process: Special counsel regulations dictate that at the conclusion of the investigation, the special counsel provides the AG with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions.

AG's Discretion: Garland made public the reports from other special counsels (Robert Hur and John Durham) in their entirety and intended to do the same with Smith's report to inform Congress and the public.

Legal Challenges: Lawyers for Donald Trump and his co-defendants sought to block the report's release, arguing it contained prejudicial information and that Smith's appointment was unconstitutional.

Court Rulings: A federal judge, Aileen Cannon, temporarily blocked the release of the entire report while an appeal regarding the co-defendants was pending. An appeals court later cleared the way for the release of the volume concerning the election interference case, but the volume on the classified documents case remained under a court-ordered prohibition from public release while charges were still technically pending against co-defendants.

Public Release: The Justice Department ultimately released the volume of the report on election interference, while agreeing not to publicly release the documents case volume out of fairness to the co-defendants.

https://tinyurl.com/4d6rht4p

For the record, Robert Mueller couldn't release his Russian collusion report either without the AG's approval. James Comey also had to get approval to release his report on Hillary's e-mails.

[Bluetus]

12. Why does she need ANY time?

What prevents Smith from just releasing it himself -- as a memoir if necessary.

[Polybius]

17. Jail prevents him

He can not legally release it on his own.

[Bluetus]

18. Please cite the law that says this.

He can certainly go on TV shows and talk about what he found. He can write his memoirs including what he found. There is nothing illegal about that. He can't disclose classified information, but Trump said he declassified all of it, so that isn't an issue.

[BurnDoubt]

9. LOCK HER UP!!!!!

[republianmushroom]

10. Will to bet is doesn't happen.

And if she doesn't release the remaining parts of special counsel Smith's report of the mishandling of classified documents. by trump. what will happens to her, not a damn thing.

[yellow dahlia]

14. She should be impeached.

[onenote]

19. Yet another misleading story from Raw Story.

According to Raw Story, 'the appeals court ordered Cannon to stop delaying the report's release.'

But, in fact, all the 11th Circuit did was order Cannon to resolve the motions seeking the report's release within 60 days. The 11th Circuit order does not compel Cannon to grant the motion for the report's release.

[BumRushDaShow]

21. And yet another dismissal of the intent behind the headline

From the order -

To date, the district court has not ruled or con-
ducted any other further proceedings on the pending motions.
Accordingly, Petitioners have established undue delay in res-
olution of their motions

It's a "slam" given the history of this case, the Appellate court that handed it down, and the fact that the order was so brief, without any extensive explanations or equivocating.

Kicking it down the road to allow for resolution seems standard to minimize overrule for not allowing enough time to resolve what has already dragged on for many months (knowing there is classified info involved), should it be appealed to the SCOTUS.

[onenote]

22. "Lightly criticized "

That’s the characterization of the 11th circuit order from a group that has more expertise in such matters than Raw Story. And saying there has been “undue delay” by Cannon in taking up the pending motions is not a “slam” — it’s a recitation of the minimum legal standard for mandanus—and even though the minimum standard was met, the court of appeals still gave Cannon another60 days—hardly a “slam” against her.

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/appeals-court-puts-cannon-on-the-clock-regarding-jack-smith-report-or-else-extraordinary-relief-will-follow/amp/

[BumRushDaShow]

23. As you have probably seen

I use "Law & Crime" extensively as a source, mainly because about 90% of the time, they will link to the court filings and I can include them in the OPs.

They were LATE doing their article on this subject (I saw it hours after I posted this, i.e., it wasn't "publicly" linked/featured on either their main page or under their "High Profile" category at a time corresponding to the date/timestamp they list for publication - something that is common among too many news sites), but in their article, they also have this -

American Oversight executive director Chioma Chukwu separately applauded the 11th Circuit's "calling out" of Cannon.

which is also an emphatic that acknowledges the strength of the Court's "rebuke" synonymously noted in this OP article's headline.

This is the same Court that has ""slammed her before", with a slightly longer ruling explanation.