Democrats were furiously reeling Monday over a federal court’s decision to toss out the classified-documents case against Donald Trump — and demanded that the judge get the boot.
Florida jurist Aileen Cannon handed Trump a huge win by saying special prosecutor Jack Smith was illegally appointed by US Attorney General Merrick Garland to prosecute the case.
“This breathtakingly misguided ruling flies in the face of long-accepted practice and repetitive judicial precedence,’’ Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) fumed in a statement. “It is wrong on the law and must be appealed immediately.
“This is further evidence that Judge Cannon cannot handle this case impartially and must be reassigned,” he said.
Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) used some of the same language to blast the jurist.“Judge Cannon’s misguided ruling undermines the rule of law and our national security,’’ Welch said.
“Time and time again in this litigation, Judge Cannon has stacked the deck in favor of the former President.
“In dismissing this case, Judge Cannon has now thrown out decades of established precedent and threatened the integrity of executive branch investigations in service of a political objective,’’ he claimed.
“The lack of judicial independence apparent in her ruling is stunning. It is my expectation that the ruling will be appealed and overturned.’’
But Republicans praised the decision, with House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana crowing, “This is good news for America and for the rule of law.
“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,” Johnson said.
“As we work to unify this country following the failed assassination attempt of President Trump, we must also work to end the lawfare and political witch hunts that have unfairly targeted President Trump and destroyed the American people’s faith in our system of justice.
“This development is a critically important step towards that goal.”
Monday’s ruling by Cannon, a Trump appointee, cited US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ dissent in a now-famous high-court ruling July 1 on presidential immunity.
Thomas argued at the time that special counsel appointments could be unconstitutional because they do an end-run around Congress.
Still, Jim Trusty, who left Trump’s legal team shortly after Smith unsealed the indictment last year, told The Post in an exclusive interview Monday that the real “hero of the story” is Ed Meese, the 75th US attorney general under President Ronald Reagan.
The 92-year-old Meese and other lawyers filed an amicus brief in the federal court docket late last year arguing that Smith’s status as special counsel violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.
“Not clothed in the authority of the federal government, Smith is a modern example of the naked emperor,” the lawyers stated in their December 2023 brief.
“Improperly appointed, he has no more authority to represent the United States in this Court than Bryce Harper, Taylor Swift, or Jeff Bezos,’’ they said.
Trusty said, “When we got rid of the independent counsel statute, Congress never created a parallel special counsel statute that jives with the Appointments Clause.
“One of the reasons [Smith] appeared to have so much authority is because the attorney general hid behind him,” he said of Merrick, who claimed he wanted to appoint a special prosecutor to give more of an appearance of impartiality.
Judge Cannon also said the feds erred by not going through Congress to approve the cost of the prosecution of Trump over his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
The Justice Department has spent at least $24 million on the case to date, making the indictment “a colossal waste” in light of Monday’s decision, according to Trusty.
The former Trump attorney predicted Smith would appeal the decision.
But “no matter what: This case isn’t getting tried before November,” Trusty concluded.
Reps for Smith and the Trump legal team did not respond to requests for comment.