Liberals hoping appeals court will revive dismissed Trump documents case

Though he has faced roadblocks at every turn during his campaign of lawfare against former President Donald Trump, special counsel Jack Smith has vowed to keep battling.

Now that Smith has filed an appeal of U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon's recent dismissal of the classified documents case against Trump, many on the left are holding out hope that her involvement in the case will come crashing to an end, and the prosecution will be revived ahead of the November election, as an op-ed The New Republic explains.

Liberals take aim at Cannon

Writing for the outlet, Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling expresses the sentiments of progressives everywhere, slamming Cannon's prior decision that Smith's appointment to the role of special counsel was unconstitutional and therefore rendered the proceedings against the former president null and void by definition.

Outlining the left's objections to Cannon's decision, Houghtaling cited former federal prosecutor and frequent Trump critic Joyce Vance.

“Notably, no other judge to consider the issue has ruled that way, and prosecutions conducted by special counsels have been routine, if infrequent,” Vance opined on Substack.

Houghtaling and Vance both underscore the notion that the only task ahead of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to which Smith presented the case is to determine whether Cannon's position on his appointment was right or wrong.

There should, they argue, be no consideration of whether the case is one that could have been brought on the merits, and therefore, they believe, this should be a simple scenario that should go against Trump and in Smith's favor, resulting in the case moving forward, possibly with a different judge.

July dismissal heralded by GOP

Though Democrats are downright giddy about the prospect that the documents case could be resurrected, possibly under the auspices of a new judge, Republicans were thrilled by Cannon's assessment of Smith's initial appointment by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Trump himself suggested that the ruling would rightly result in the dismissal of other cases currently pending against him, writing on Truth Social that it was time to “come together to END all Weaponization of our Justice System, and Make America Great Again!”

Republican Rep. Warren Davidson agreed, saying, “Judge Cannon's ruling provides an opportunity for the Biden regime to begin disarming their weaponized government.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) weighed in, noting, “House Republicans repeatedly argued that Special Counsel Jack Smith abused his office's authority in pursuit of President Trump, and now a federal judge has ruled Smith never possessed the authority in the first place.”

Whether the Eleventh Circuit will ultimately side with the Democrats or the Republicans and whether the court's review will be restricted just to the issue of Smith's appointment, only time will tell.