Left: FILE – Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to the media about an indictment of former President Donald Trump, Aug. 1, 2023, at an office of the Department of Justice in Washington (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File). Center: U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida). Right: Donald Trump speaks to members of the media before departing Manhattan criminal court, Monday, May 6, 2024, in New York (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, Pool).
Months upon months of Judge Aileen Cannon doing absolutely nothing to resolve motions in search of ex-special counsel Jack Smith's Mar-a-Lago classified documents report on President Donald Trump has led an appellate panel to lightly criticize her "undue delay," putting the jurist who famously tossed the prosecution on the clock.
A three-judge panel on the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Monday took note of the Knight First Amendment Institute and American Oversight's petitions for writs of mandamus.
The panel, including U.S. Circuit Judges Jill Pryor, a Barack Obama appointee, Britt Grant, a Trump appointee, and Nancy Abudu, a Joe Biden appointee, ultimately did not order up that extraordinary relief, instead threatening to do so if need be — should Cannon ignore a 60-day time limit to rule on the two groups' long-unresolved motions to intervene.
"Before the Court are related petitions for writs of mandamus, which request relief in relation to Petitioners' pending motions to intervene to seek vacatur of the district court's January 21, 2025, order barring release of Volume II of the Special Counsel's Final Report," the brief order began, noting that the petitioners first tried to intervene at the district court in February, reminded Cannon in July that three months had passed without a ruling, and then in late September went the appellate route.
Now November, the 11th Circuit said Cannon "has not ruled or conducted any other further proceedings on the pending motions" and, thus, American Oversight and the Knight Institute have "established undue delay in resolution of their motions to intervene[.]"
The appellate court said Cannon has 60 days to act, indicating that mandamus relief, compelling her to act, may come if she doesn't.
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"[T]he petitions for writs of mandamus are held in abeyance for a period of 60 days to allow the district court to fully resolve the motions," the order concluded.
As Law&Crime reported previously, both the Knight Institute and American Oversight went to the 11th Circuit in the hopes that Cannon would, one way or another, be prompted to rule on whether or not to lift a January injunction, to at least have something to appeal.
Cannon, a Trump appointee, threw out the president's case in July 2024 and invalidated Smith's appointment as special counsel, and then, several months later, blocked the release of Smith's Mar-a-Lago report.
When Cannon initially issued the injunction in January, she noted that Trump valet Waltine Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira still had an active appeal at the 11th Circuit and that, as a result, releasing Volume II publicly would jeopardize their "due process rights to a fair trial[.]"
After Trump was in office again, the DOJ dismissed the cases against the president's erstwhile co-defendants Nauta and de Oliveira, leading the two nonprofit groups to push for the report's release. Despite the groups' motions to intervene and despite their separate reminders for Cannon to issue a ruling, given that the Nauta and de Oliveira cases were over, no ruling came.
Now that the 11th Circuit has nudged Cannon to get it over with, the petitioners are hopeful that the public may soon learn more about Trump's alleged "grave criminal conduct."
"We're pleased that today's order recognizes that there is no legitimate reason for the court's months-long delay in ruling on our request to make the special counsel's report public," Knight Institute senior counsel Scott Wilkins said in a statement. "This report is of singular importance to the public because it addresses allegations of grave criminal conduct by the nation's highest-ranking official, and should be made public without further delay."
American Oversight executive director Chioma Chukwu separately applauded the 11th Circuit's "calling out" of Cannon.
"As the Trump administration targets its perceived political enemies over alleged mishandling of classified documents, today's order is an important step toward increased transparency and accountability for the president's own conduct," Chukwu said. "If the very actions he condemns in others mirror what he did before leaving office, the public has a right to know. Transparency delayed is accountability denied. The continued secrecy around this report serves only to protect those in power, not the public interest."