Norm Eisen: DOJ Snookered Trump Judge Aileen Cannon With Its Savvy Mar-a-Lago Appeal

[Nevilledog]

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Norm Eisen
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Genius move by DOJ in the Trump classified doc scandal

If you were feeling anxious about Trump dodging accountability AGAIN, the appeal & request for stay arguments should make you feel better

We explain why it will likely work @slate w/ @FredWertheimer

slate.com
DOJ Snookered Trump Judge Aileen Cannon With Its Savvy Mar-a-Lago Appeal
The beauty of DOJ’s narrow request for a stay is that it takes advantage of the calendar.
11:43 AM · Sep 9, 2022

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/09/mar-a-lago-appeal-snooker-trump-judge-cannon.html

On Thursday, the Department of Justice announced it would appeal Judge Aileen Cannon’s indefensible order blocking the criminal investigation into the classified documents seized from Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago last month until a special master can review them. The department also put Cannon on the spot by asking her to stay her order pending appeal, but only as to those 100-plus classified documents. It was a shrewd move that will help protect our national security and hopefully assure the success of the larger appeal.

First, as we noted in our Slate op-ed initially reacting to the judge’s decision, the single most disturbing part of Judge Cannon’s order was always its application to classified documents. Don’t get us wrong, none of the thousands of government documents at issue belong to a former president under the terms of the Presidential Records Act or the well-established rules of executive privilege, as the government points out in its brief.

But classified materials are in a category by themself. Federal law expressly says as much. As DOJ points out in its filing, classified information must be “owned by, produced by or for, or [be] under the control of the United States [g]overnment.” One of the authors, Eisen, helped write Executive Order 13526, the order issued by President Barack Obama which articulates that principle and which the government cites in its motion to Judge Cannon for a partial stay. The special status of classified documents is also rooted in the case law, including the seminal precedent in this area, Nixon v. GSA. It held that only the current president can assert executive privilege relating to “state secrets and sensitive information concerning military or diplomatic matters.” Many additional laws and rules apply to the handling of such materials, including that they be stored in or utilized in special, secure government locations. A former president’s heavily trafficked resort is certainly not one of them.

Nor is there any reason to believe that these materials were declassified, as Trump and his allies have claimed in public media without foundation. Notably, his lawyers made no such claims in their court papers, which they signed pursuant to legal penalties if they make false statements of facts or law. In its motion on Thursday, the DOJ notes this fact and practically dares Trump’s attorneys to attempt to assert before the court the former president’s public claims that those documents were declassified.

*snip*

[usonian]

1. How long does that judge have to act on this?

Would help to be a speed-reader.

[Nevilledog]

3. Trump's got til Monday to respond was I last I read.

[crickets]

2. K&R

[Hermit-The-Prog]

4. I'm filing a "Motion To Pause Or In The Alternative, Request Summaries" so I can catch up

I have 4 court docs open in tabs right now, from 3 different courts / cases.

[Hekate]

5. These are encouraging words