The federal judge overseeing the classified documents case against Donald Trump on Wednesday permitted legal groups to submit amicus briefs, or friend of the court briefs, that were favorable toward the former president.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, an appointee of Trump, submitted a paperless order allowing former Trump White House senior adviser Stephen Miller‘s America First Legal Foundation to file a brief, as well as one from former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese, who served under former President Ronald Reagan’s administration.
“The Court has reviewed the motions and finds that the proposed amici bring to the Court’s attention relevant matter that may be of considerable help to the Court in resolving the cited pretrial motions,” Cannon wrote. “The amicus briefs are accepted for Court consideration.”
By allowing the briefs to be admitted onto the court docket, both filings may influence the legal arguments that Cannon could embrace as she prepares to weigh several pretrial motions from the parties in the case.
The brief under Meese’s name was written in conjunction with law professors Steven Calabresi and Gary Lawson, as well as with members of the conservative nonprofit organization Citizens United.
Trump is facing 40 felony counts in Florida, brought by special counsel Jack Smith, accusing him of willfully retaining dozens of classified documents after he left the White House in 2021 and allegedly obstructing the National Archives and Records Administration’s efforts to retrieve those records. Trump has denied wrongdoing and is asking Cannon to dismiss the case for a multitude of reasons, including selective prosecution and claims of presidential immunity.
Meese’s brief argued that Trump’s bid to dismiss the case should be granted on the “Appointments Clause issue, and do so prior to ruling on the other Motions to Dismiss pending in this case.”
“Smith is the classic ’emperor with no clothes,’” Meese’s brief said of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointee to head up two criminal indictments against Trump. “He has no more authority to represent the United States in this Court than Tom Brady, Lionel Messi, or Kanye West.”
Meanwhile, AFL’s separate brief argued that the Trump indictment should be thrown out because NARA’s criminal referral to the Justice Department was not in alignment with the Administrative Procedure Act.
Trump, who is facing four criminal indictments that amount to 91 charges, has also been supported in amicus briefs by unlikely groups in Smith’s separate cases charging him of attempting to subvert the 2020 presidential election.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee, rejected a brief in support of Trump by the American Civil Liberties Union in October. The brief was critical of a limited gag order Chutkan placed on the former president.
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Responses to the amicus briefs by Smith or other defendants in the case are due by March 15.
Also on Thursday, Smith revealed in a new filing that the government was supplying its 14th round of discovery to defense attorneys and revealed the production consists of “nine pages and includes the memorialization of an interview conducted on March 6, 2024.”