The DOJ says, "Nah."
In regard to Judge Cannon's ruling about the Mar-a-Lago treasure trove:
On Thursday, the Department of Justice said it would file an appeal on a federal judge’s earlier motion (released on Labor Day) that the government stop reviewing the material gathered from Donald Trump’s Florida home, and that there be a special master to review those materials.
(The judge’s ruling wasn’t popular among most legal experts.)
The DOJ asked for a partial stay pending that appeal because, as reported by Lawfare, Judge Aileen M. Cannon’s order would:
“cause the most immediate and serious harm to the government and the public.” The Justice Department also asserted that the FBI should be authorized to evaluate empty folders with “classified banners” seized at Mar-a-Lago to “assess what materials might have previously occupied the folders and “whether they may have been lost or compromised.”
You can read the appeal here. Here are some nuggets:
Plaintiff does not and could not assert that he owns or has any possessory interest in classified records; that he has any right to have those government records returned to him; or that he can advance any plausible claims of attorney-client privilege as to such records that would bar the government from reviewing or using them.
and the filing noted that asking for a stay
would simply allow the government to continue to review and use the same records—which, again, indisputably belong to the government, not Plaintiff—in its ongoing criminal investigation as well.
and
The classified records are government property over which the Executive Branch has control and in which Plaintiff has no cognizable property interest.
and employing a special master doesn’t make sense because
The classification markings establish on the face of the documents that they are government records, not Plaintiff’s personal records.
The filing is a master’s class on how to practice law. I highly recommend you read it. Happy Thursday.
Today Professor Heather Cox Richardson gives us a lesson on how the rule of law shifted greatly with Ford's pardon to Nixon. The most powerful snubbing of the law continued with Iran contra and now we see this fiasco with 45 and his mob of thugs! It is good the Justice Department is standing up to might with right but the fact remains, justice is NOT equal!
This is from a guy named Peter Vroom on Twitter. On that platform you can see pictures of her actual responses to the questionnaire and it's jaw-dropping:
Aileen Cannon, a 38 year-old lawyer with no judicial experience and limited resume, was handed a LIFETIME appointment as a federal judge just as Trump left office. Cannon's primary credentials for the job were apparently her young age and membership in the Federalist Society.
Her professional experience was so limited that she was forced to admit on her Sen Judiciary Comm questionnaire that she had never made any speeches, produced any reports, participated in any panel discussions, spoke at any conferences or written for any bar association.
In her twelve years as a lawyer, she published no writings of her own and just 3 writings done with colleagues at Gibson Dunn -- limited to promotional articles on cases handled by the firm for their own website.
In an attempt to show writing experience, Cannon listed 17 short articles from a 2-mo undergrad stint at El Nuevo Herald. ranging from "Prenatal Yoga" to "Flamenco: An Explosion of Energy and Passion." Cannon is unclear on whether she authored or simply edited the articles.
Finally, the questionnaire for a LIFETIME judicial appt asks Cannon to list all interviews she has given to the media. Cannon lists only her wedding article in a local magazine as her only media experience.