ANOTHER TRUMP JUDGE JUMBLES THE LAW
August 5, 2022 -Durt Fibo

Today the Trump-appointed federal judge Aileen Cannon surprised the nation by ruling in favor of Trump’s request for a “special master” to (p)review documents taken by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago. Having had the weekend to find her way out of –or into– a corner, US District Judge Cannon wrote a 24-page ruling on the matter, forcing a halt to, and the trademark Trump delay of, the Department of Justice’s work on its case. In her 24 pages, Justice Cannon additionally maintained that the in decisive 1977 Supreme Court case of Nixon v General Services Administration, the 7-2 majority ruling somehow did not settle the question of whether a former president’s assertion of executive privilege might be stronger than a current president’s waiver of it.

While writing her 24 pages, however, Justice Cannon evidently had no extra time to read the 919 pages of the Supreme Court Official Reports in question. Just past dead center of the tome, the public can find the ruling’s very words settling the issue, to wit:

“Unlike United States v. Nixon [the earlier case -D.F.], in which the appellant asserted a claim of absolute Presidential privilege against inquiry by the coordinate Judicial Branch, this case initially involves appellant’s assertion of a privilege against the very Executive Branch in whose name the privilege is invoked.” (page 448)

And:

“This necessarily follows, for it must be presumed that the incumbent President is vitally concerned with and in the best position to assess the present and future needs of the Executive Branch, and to support invocation of the privilege accordingly.” (page 449)