Nope. Trump’s counsel asked for it. See p 5 of Cannon’s original order:
In the absence of any agreement between the parties, on August 22, 2022, Plaintiff filed the Motion for Judicial Oversight and Additional Relief, seeking (1) the appointment of a special master to oversee the review of seized materials regarding identification of personal property and privilege review; (2) the enjoinment of further review of the seized materials until a special master is appointed; (3) a more detailed receipt for property; and (4) the return of any items seized in excess of the search warrant [ECF No. 1 p. 21; ECF No. 28 p. 10].**
Just a reminder that this one isn’t dead, yet. There is a 7-day delay between the date of the Order to Vacate and it being issued (see here). So, the order will not take effect until Dec 8 (to allow for a possible stay).
On November 22, Trump’s lawyers filed a motion in Cannon’s court to unseal the unredacted portions of the search warrant (here). The DoJ has been given until Dec 6 to respond to this motion (this is two days before the Order to Vacate is to be issued).
The DoJ filed for an extension of one week (until Dec 13) for this response (here). [Note, there are other deadlines to be extended as well, such as information from the Special Master] Not surprisingly, Trump’s team is objecting to the DoJ’s extension (here). Their reasons to object seem to be that the DoJ didn’t give the team enough time to weigh in on the opinion and because the 11th Cir. order only has 7-day window for them to obtain a stay, they just don’t have time to respond to the request for the extension until Dec 6.
I am not a lawyer or even legally-minded, but it seems to me that it will be unlikely for the extension not to be granted. The reasons to object seem to support granting it rather than denying it (we don’t have time to respond with all this other stuff going on) and fail to identify any harm that would result from granting the extension.
I guess we have to wait one more week to give the Supreme Court a chance to put this away.
That’s what I was trying to point out in my earlier post, but no one seemed to notice it! I was hoping someone with legal knowledge could weigh in on what this means. It seems like Trump’s lawyers are still trying to get back to “Loose” Cannon.
Here in Texas, our actual attorney general has been under indictment, criminal indictment, for over seven years. But there’s no actual trial in sight: its been seven years of delaying tactics.
Out of the gate, accept that Trump will utilize any and every mechanism he has available to delay these proceedings. It’s the only strategy he has, really. This appears (to me, at least) to be a pretty righteous slam-dunk case. The only wrinkle is that it’s being brought against a former president. Unfortunately, this is a pretty big wrinkle.
In the immediate action concerning the special master, Trump may petition the Eleventh to sit en banc to review the ruling of the 3-member panel that ruled per curiam (decision not signed by any judge but agreed to by all). It would be ridiculous for him to do that since the chief judge of the Eleventh, William Pryor, sat on that 3-member panel. But that’s never stopped Trump before.
He will also likely appeal the ruling to the SCOTUS as another way to delay.
The good news is, the courts will tire of this nonsense, as will Trump’s lawyers. Such proceedings make them look terrible and they know it. Lawyers may decline to pursue no-hope actions. Rulings should come quicker. All these courts can move quite fast when they want to.
There may also come a time when the courts formally recognize the stalling tactic and impose penalties for Trump’s ongoing filings of frivolous lawsuits. Such penalties can be quite expensive, since they are meant to be punitive. I’m not counting much on this happening, though. Because this is the first legal proceeding of its kind to contemplate charging a former president with serious crimes, there will be lots of opportunities to test the law.
As for making new appeals to Judge Cannon, sure, that’s possible. But the Trump filing before her to unseal the search warrant is going to go nowhere. By requiring Cannon to dismiss the case entirely, she would be an utter fool to ignore the Eleventh’s directive to do this and defiantly unseal the warrant. ETA: She was also smacked down for assuming a jurisdiction she did not have. So granting the motion to unseal the search warrant would upend justice as it is meant to be carried out in this country, giving Trump and his lawyers an “insider’s view” of DOJ evidence and strategy. Such a ruling would be used by every defendant in the land to circumvent this norm. Hopefully she’s not that dumb.
You won’t see the real delays commence until after an indictment falls. I mean, unless Trump is remanded to custody without bail. Sitting in jail does tend to focus the mind on the importance of the right to a speedy trial.
No, that’s not how it happened. Trump’s lawyer did ask for the appointment of the special master. The court granted that request.
Trump’s lawyers filed a Motion for Judicial Oversight and Additional Relief in the Federal District Court, Southern District of Florida, on August 22, 2022. Prior to that, there was nothing in front of Judge Cannon. Judges don’t propose actions or remedies to counsel; they respond to requests for judicial action and court orders, based on the material filed in front of them.
That Motion specifically sought the appointment of a Special Master: see the opening paragraph of the Notice of Motion on p. 1, and the conclusion on p. 21.
The matter came on before Judge Cannon on September 1, 2022, and she issued her order on September 5, granting the appointment of the Special Master.
As for the quality of the lawyers, Trusty seems to have a strong background in federal courts, based on his bio with his current firm:
Look, just because you don’t like Trump, you can’t assume everyone in his immediate circle is incompetent.
If you bring a case in the federal District Court, and the judge of that court grants the order you requested, that’s a pretty good indication that it is not a frivolous application. Being overturned on appeal means that the judge below was wrong; doesn’t mean that the successful trial lawyer was acting improperly.
I did not mean sanctions should be applied immediately because of the appeal. I meant when Trump’s lawyers continue the same bullshit over and over again in future.
It would be kind of amusing if that happened and then the courts decided to let all these delay tactics play out.
Sorry Mr Trump, you had requested we move the deadline to respond to [something] out 3 months, so just sit tight, we have to wait to see if you respond, then the prosecutors have 30 days to respond to that, etc etc etc.
I agree it would be amusing and it’s fun to think about.
But as a former clerk tasked with reminding judges about things they might forget to get on the record, I can tell you one of the very first phrases you learn to quietly say is, “Waive time?” Because even if a defendant requests that a hearing be set past the deadline, it must be clearly articulated on the record that they affirmatively waived time to the proposed date. It’s not good enough that they implied the waiver by asking for the date.
All Trump would have to do is answer no, and the hearings would be expedited to comply with statutory requirements for speedy justice.
I have to acknowledge that this is a good point. It assumes that Fox News is garbage and most of their viewers are morons, which, now that I think about it, is probably true.
While I understand that this is a tried and true pattern with Republicans, I really get tired of hearing it as a response. It’s like the “I know you are but what am I?” of politics these days. This isn’t aimed at you for asking, more just a general venting at the childish state of one of our political parties that it has to be asked.
