How Judge Cannon broke with conservatives in Trump documents case

[brooklynite]

Politico

However, many lawyers who support sweeping executive authority say despite that affiliation, aspects of Cannon’s directives appear at odds with the prevailing views among the prominent conservative lawyers’ group.

“A robust view of executive power says it’s really not the job of the courts to decide what’s classified or unclassified,” said University of California Berkeley Law Professor John Yoo. “I think most people who agree on the unitary executive also think it’s the president who decides what’s classified and unclassified--the current, incumbent, sitting president.”

Trump is challenging both those principles in his effort to fight back against the unprecedented FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8 based on a search warrant seeking evidence of illegal retention of classified information, theft of government records and obstruction of justice.

Cannon hasn’t ruled firmly in Trump’s favor on the substance–yet. But the special master process she has adopted also appears to indulge the possibility that she or the master, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Raymond Dearie, might conclude Trump declassified the records with markings like “Top Secret/SCI” or that he has some right to control their use.

[Scrivener7]

1. Ah, politico! An article on how Cannon is not the best little conservative in

the world with comments by the guy who wrote the torture memo.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. should read "...broke with 'genuine conservatives' in ..."

It's not that she sided with "liberals", "progressives" or whatever the usual opposite of "conservatives" is. She sided with Trump. You can point out that is very much not 'conservative' in its true meaning - she made a whole load of procedure and claims about rights up, on the spot. But it was all to benefit Trump. One of the troubles with most "conservatives" these days is they think of Trump first, Republican party second, and law or the USA a long way behind.

For all of Politico's talk of the Federalist Society, they basically have the same attitude as Cannon does. They just pretend they don't.