Judge Aileen Cannon has dismissed the classified documents case against Donald Trump.
In a ruling Monday, Cannon said the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith violated the Constitution.
“In the end, it seems the Executive’s growing comfort in appointing ‘regulatory’ special counsels in the more recent era has followed an ad hoc pattern with little judicial scrutiny,” Cannon wrote.
The decision by the US district judge Aileen Cannon will almost certainly be challenged by special counsel prosecutors at the US court of appeals for the 11th circuit. Prosecutors could also seek to have the case reassigned to a different judge if the ruling is overturned.
Trump was indicted last year with retaining national security documents at Mar-a-Lago and obstructing the government’s attempts to retrieve, including by partially defying a grand jury subpoena ordering him to return any classified documents to the justice department. Trump had pleaded not guilty.