Many legal experts have openly expressed their criticism of US District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, who's presiding over Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.
The Florida judge's bias towards the former president, experts say, was proven when she postponed trial indefinitely earlier this month.
According to a Thursday, May 16 report published by Salon, "special counsel Jack Smith does have one option, which he already hinted at deploying in an April legal filing, back when Cannon wanted to instruct prospective jurors that maybe Trump had a legal right to take any classified documents he pleased: a 'writ of mandamus.'"
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In other words, Salon reports the special counsel "could ask Cannon’s de facto bosses at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, who have already thrown out her decisions before, to remove her from the case altogether."
However, there's a catch.
The news outlet reports that "a writ of mandamus is a last resort, when a prosecutor believes and can demonstrate that their case has been effectively destroyed by a judge clearly violating the law. And the consensus last month, when Cannon pulled back from issuing legally flawed jury instructions, was that she had done just enough to prevent an appeals court from firing her."
The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin told Salon said a writ of mandamus in this case is "a long shot," because prosecutors are required to prove "they have no alternative and a 'clear and indisputable right to the requested relief.'"
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On the other hand, Salon notes that defense attorney Glenn Danas told Slate if she were a prosecutor on Trump's case. she would "file a writ of mandamus ASAP."
Danas added, "It seems like she’s going out of her way to afford the defendants an extraordinary amount of time and her own judicial resources to get every single thing that they want done in a way that seems unusual."
New York University law professor Stephen Gillers agrees with Rubin: "Mandamus is a way to get appellate review in extreme cases where appeal is not possible but the trial judge's decision is clearly wrong," he said. "Mandamus would be a big gamble here and almost certainly lose."
READ MORE: Former Trump lawyer slams Judge Cannon for indefinitely postponing docs trial
Salon's full report is available at this link.
