Legal commentator and attorney Glenn Kirschner on Friday alluded to a memo sent by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas that was “obviously intended” for Judge Aileen Cannon in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents case, according to Newsweek.
Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Donald Trump in 2020, recently rejected the former president’s trial involving classified documents, claiming that Jack Smith’s appointment as special counsel for the Department of Justice (DOJ) was unconstitutional and that Thomas’ decision in the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity case validated her decision. According to the Court’s order on July 1, former presidents are typically immune to prosecution.
Smith sent in a notice of appeal of Cannon’s decision on Wednesday and stated that “the case’s dismissal deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue that the Attorney General is statutorily authorized to appoint a Special Counsel.”
Kirschner, a longtime Trump opponent and former deputy U.S. attorney, mentioned a comment Thomas had made in his separate concurrence about the immunity finding on his YouTube channel on Friday.
“Clarence Thomas wrote a little note that he obviously intended for Judge Cannon saying, ‘Hey judge Cannon, you might want to look into the appointment of special counsel thing. I think maybe there’s an issue there that could help Donald Trump.’ In substance that’s what Clarence Thomas communicated to judge Cannon,” Kirschner stated.
Thomas outlined his case earlier this month in a lone concurring opinion, which Cannon upheld on Monday. Thomas wrote, “The lower courts should thus answer these essential questions concerning the special counsel’s appointment before proceeding.” If this historic prosecution [of Trump] is to go forward, it must be led by a person legitimately appointed by the American people to prosecute him.”
Citing Cannon’s verdict, Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, has filed additional applications to have both lawsuits against him dropped. A Delaware jury convicted Biden Jr. last month of three felony counts connected to firearms ownership while taking opioids. He is appealing the verdict and is awaiting trial in federal court in Los Angeles on federal tax crimes allegations.
“Guided by Justice Thomas’ opinion, Judge Cannon dismissed an indictment against President Trump earlier this week because the Special Counsel was unconstitutionally appointed,” Hunter Biden’s attorneys wrote in two motions they filed arguing for the dismissal of the case. “Based on these new legal developments, Mr. Biden moves to dismiss the indictment brought against him because the Special Counsel who initiated this prosecution was appointed in violation of the Appointments Clause as well,” Hunter Biden’s legal team argued.
Hunter Biden’s petitions, Kirschner said on Friday, “are destined to fail,” pointing out that Cannon’s decision is “bad” and ought to be overturned by other federal judges.
“What Judge Cannon did in Donald Trump’s classified documents case, tossed it out, ruled that special counsel is not a thing, not only doesn’t have any precedential value anywhere else, its a bad ruling. It’s a bad ruling and it should be rejected and I suspect it will be rejected by all federal judges who have occasion to take up that issue,” he said.
