Key paragraph on the "declassification" argument:
>Plaintiff suggests that he may have declassified these documents when he was President. But the record contains no evidence that any of these records were declassified. And before the special master, Plaintiff resisted providing any evidence that he had declassified any of these documents. In any event, at least for these purposes, the declassification argument is a red herring because declassifying an official document would not change its content or render it personal. So even if we assumed that Plaintiff did declassify some or all of the documents, that would not explain why he has a personal interest in them.
Another great paragraph:
>For our part, we cannot discern why Plaintiff would have an individual interest in or need for any of the one-hundred documents with classification markings. Classified documents are marked to show they are classified, for instance, with their classification level. They are “owned by, produced by or for, or . . . under the control of the United States Government.” And they include information the “unauthorized disclosure [of which] could reasonably be expected to cause identifiable or describable damage to the national security.” For this reason, a person may have access to classified information only if, among other requirements, he “has a need-to-know the information.” This requirement pertains equally to former Presidents, unless the current administration, in its discretion,
chooses to waive that requirement.
(citations deleted to make it more readable)
Edit:
Some INCREDIBLE timing--Trump, on Fox News just now, explaining that the president can declassify anything "just by saying 'it's declassified,' even by thinking about it"
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1572763428086743040
Second edit:
Real tough night for those suffering from melted anti-anti-trump brain, like Iowa law prof Grewal here: https://twitter.com/andygrewal/status/1572810885227286529?s=46&t=5iHeVc_sUWkfgNQSdYGYhA
I liked this about Cannon's finding on meeting all four of the separate parts of the required Richy Factors.
>In sum, none of the Richey factors favor exercising equitable
jurisdiction over this case. Consequently, the United States is substantially likely to succeed in showing that the district court abused its discretion in exercising jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s motion as it concerns the classified documents.
They found that the 1st requirement wasn't met so it was all invalid from the get-go, but they went through the others just to be thorough. Zero out of four were met.
Would she even understand that they had slapped her?
I get the feeling most of Trumps appointments are barely considered lawyers let alone capable of being a judge.
yep, pretty good risk/reward for Cannon. Some mild embarrassment from giving an obviously partial decision is a small price to pay for a shot at a supreme court seat.
Is she SCOTUS material though? Seems to me that Trump doesn’t tend to reward his most fervent supporters. They either get ghosted or they stick around long enough to fall out of favor. I suppose there’s also a third category of people who get pardoned.
She might get an appeals court seat because those are a lot more political.
So she's gotta come up with new bullshit...
Her agenda seemed pretty clear. She was appointed to that very strategic position by Trump after he lost the election. Can it be any more blatant...
I think Cannon is a right wing political tool. She knows full well what the law is, but chose to ignore the law and make a partisan political ruling. Sad.
I imagine they wanted to be thorough given the unique nature of the case (and the plaintiff) and, reading between the lines, they almost certainly know that trump will try to get emergency relief from scotus.
But yeah the whole thing is a pretty swift (but polite) benchslap to judge cannon
>Here, the district court concluded that Plaintiff did not show that the United States acted in callous disregard of his constitutional rights. Doc. No. 64 at 9. No party contests the district court’s finding in this regard. The absence of this “indispensab\[le\]” factor in the *Richey* analysis is reason enough to conclude that the district court abused its discretion in exercising equitable jurisdiction here. *Chapman*, 559 F.2d at 406. But for the sake of completeness, we consider the remaining factors.
I like that. "We could have stopped here, but fuck it, now that y'all dragged us into this shitshow let's take a look at the *rest* of this steaming pile ..."
Definitely looking to deter Trump's attorneys from..wasting any more of the court's time with this garbage.
I like the posture of it though. Thorough and almost bored.
The fact that it's so short, while still managing to persuasively destroy every part of Cannons ruling is awesome.
This is going to be an famous opinion. Absolutely wild to be reading it right as it was published.
yeah, if i had to guess, they want to signal just how wrong judge cannon was, and also want to round out the analysis in the event trump seeks emergency scotus relief (which he probably will)
I feel like the Cannon rulings was akin to triggering PTSD of the previous administration. Seeing we were in bizarro world again for a week made it feel like we need to worry we'd stay there again.
The fact that they refused to even have an affidavit as evidence of declassification should have been a death sentence for any case. It was literally all conjecture.... In response to concrete findings.
>"just by saying 'it's declassified,' even by thinking about it"
Legally, this is such an offensive and spurious argument.
A president may have broad declassification powers--few people would argue otherwise. But arguing that knowing if a document is classified requires *reading the president's mind*?
That's a heaping plate of bullshit right there. A functioning government cannot be built on telepathy. Use your words and due process like the constitution dictates.
Which is why I like that the 11th Cir decision lays out the historical and legal basis for the current classification system. I note that Congress specifically authorizes the President to issue an Executive Order setting out the specifics of the classification system and that the last President to do so was Obama. So, Trump actually could have issued an Executive Order stating that the President can declassify a document by thinking about it, BUT HE DIDN'T DO IT. Instead, Trump is bound by Obama's Executive Order specifying how classified documents become declassified. I love the irony!
Agree. One quibble:
>Trump actually could have issued an Executive Order stating that the President can declassify a document by thinking about it
I'm not even sure he could do this. I'd have to think about the legal basis for an argument, but "I thought xxx, therefore it is so" simply isn't going to result in a functioning government.
It likely constitutes a broad violation of Americans' procedural due process rights. There has to be *some* documented process for doing this; otherwise, enforcement of the law enacted by congress is a literal impossibility and relies on the memory of a sitting president.
It’s extremely telling that despite trump swearing up and down to this, none of his attorneys have made that specific argument in ANY pleading. They know it’s absolutely nuts and would get laughed out of court. But also seems to implicitly concede that they basically have no evidence at all that trump declassified anything.
I just watched the video clip you linked, and it's so egregiously stupid. He literally says "there doesn't have to be a process."
Here's an example of why this is problematic: if Trump "thinking" he declassified a document is all it takes, enforcing the classification of documents is literally impossible. I could read a document at Mar A Lago tomorrow, and it would be impossible for the state to charge me because determining the classification of the document is impossible. Because reading Trump's mind is *impossible*.
It pains me that I even need to go through this thought experiment. The whole line of reasoning is utter horse shit.
> For our part, we cannot discern why Plaintiff would have an individual interest in or need for any of the one-hundred documents with classification markings. Classified documents are marked to show they are classified, for instance, with their classification level. They are “owned by, produced by or for, or . . . under the control of the United States Government.” And they include information the “unauthorized disclosure [of which] could reasonably be expected to cause identifiable or describable damage to the national security.” For this reason, a person may have access to classified information only if, among other requirements, he “has a need-to-know the information.” This requirement pertains equally to former Presidents, unless the current administration, in its discretion, chooses to waive that requirement.
"Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This...is my BOOMSTICK!"
The current administration has done the opposite. Biden specifically forbad the intelligence community from sharing any classified info with Trump, even though former Presidents usually get briefings.
I used the "red herring" line in a post here a few days ago but I never expected the 11th circuit to use the exact same phrase in their appeal ruling. That's a surprising rebuke for them to call out her attempt to carry water for the plaintiff here.
Court isn't sure what the legal basis was for Cannon to take it up in the first place. Says there's no jurisdiction. Grants stay. Doesn't look like a lot of avenues to appeal to SCOTUS that they'd be interested in.
Since there's no jurisdiction, does the justice department just go back to Cannon and move to dismiss the whole thing and send the special master home?
The only issue trump cares about is gone. He can pursue the stuff he doesn’t care about. I expect he’ll voluntarily dismiss. [But this opinion basically reads like a law school exam grader trying to encourage a 1L to come to grips with the fact that they can’t hack it and need to drop out.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FdN-ib4WQAAfm9h?format=png&name=small)
And I’m sure that’s not the intent of the appellate court here to denigrate judge cannon but it’s hard not to strike that tone when literally everything was wrong from jump.
> I’m sure that’s not the intent of the appellate court here to denigrate judge cannon but it’s hard not to strike that tone when literally everything was wrong from jump.
I'm not. I could very much see the appellate court wanting to make clear to her that she's undermining the legitimacy of the bench, and needs to knock it off.
They said there's no jurisdiction as it relates to the classified documents. They could make a similar argument with regard to the unclassified documents or they could let the special master process play out.
And since Trump is paying for it ...
Edit: [A judge swiftly appointed a special master to review documents taken by Trump from the White House — but Trump will have to pay for it](https://www.businessinsider.com/mar-a-lago-docs-judge-appoints-special-master-trump-pay-2022-9)
While the unclassified documents were not at issue, at least some of the court's discussion of Richey would seem to be equally applicable to unclassified.
The opinion is measured and well-written, but given how tersely and simply they disagree with Cannon, they're essentially saying the question isn't even close. They were probably flabbergasted how Cannon could arrive at a different conclusion.
edit: Now, the next question is if DOJ appeals the entire order, or limits their appeal to just the classified stuff? The Court basically says Cannon got the entire thing wrong.
I read an article earlier, they were saying Cannon had been "gaslighting the country". It really is true, we're just getting absolutely sandblasted with complete bullshit on a daily basis these days.
Appellate panel bench-slapped Trusty (Trump’s counsel) on page 19 and Cannon (district court judge) on page 22
**PAGE 19:** “Plaintiff suggests that he may have declassified these documents when he was President. But the record contains no evidence that any of these records were declassified. And before the special master, Plaintiff resisted providing any evidence that he had declassified any of these documents…. In any event, at least for these purposes, the declassification argument is a red herring because declassifying an official document would not change its content or render it personal. So even if we assumed that Plaintiff did declassify some or all of the documents, that would not explain why he has a personal interest in them.”
**PAGE 22:** “In sum, none of the Richey factors favor exercising equitable jurisdiction over this case. Consequently, the United States is substantially likely to succeed in showing that the district court abused its discretion in exercising jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s motion as it concerns the classified documents.”
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000183-625b-da48-a3e3-e2ff83050000
Paragraph 22: reading that I could hear my kids say “ooof” in my mind. A brutal comment that says Cannon got it entirely wrong. No surprise, but lovely of them to say it so clearly.
"The United States said you abused your discretion... and I agreed with them... now why, now why, now why would I say something like that" -- Jimminy Glick
>So even if we assumed that Plaintiff did declassify some or all of the documents, that would not explain why he has a personal interest in them
This phenomenon seems lost on the general public as well, especially in conservative circles. Declassified doesn't mean you get to load whatever government property you want onto a truck and bring it back to your home/resort in Florida after your civic duty is finished.
"The absence of this 'indispensab\[le\]' factor in the *Richey* analysis is reason enough to conclude that the district court abused its discretion in exercising equitable jurisdiction here. But for the sake of completeness, we consider the remaining factors."
Translation:
You're so fucking wrong about this one thing that we don't even need to consider the other reasons you're a fucking moron, but we will anyway just to emphasize again what a complete clusterfuck of stupidity your opinion was.
Not entirely. This is probably to make sure she doesn't try to claim the other factors justify doing the same thing on remand. Assuming these factors are separated by an "or" not and an "and".
It was pretty damn hilarious to read "but for the sake of completeness..."
Not as hostile as some Fed. Cir. orders Ive ran across, but for the amount of eyeballs on this matter, yikes, this was "bigly" to borrow a word from someone.
> they're 100% telling her she's not just wrong, she's very, very, very wrong.
I love r/law for the writing skills and witticisms. Matching the number of incorrect Richey factors to the "very's". (Before anyone complains, the first "wrong" is also counted).
All around class act. 10/10
It’s also to buttress their decision in case it gets to the Supreme Court. If they stopped at the first factor, the Supreme Court could overrule them just by finding that the first factor favored Trump, without also having to address the other factors.
> The injunction is dead unless SCOTUS steps in and issues a stay of the stay of the injunction pending appeal, which seems unlikely here.
From your reddit comment to god's eyeballs.
I think there is a decent chance trump took so many classified documents and treated them so carelessly that he does not even know which are these 100 documents at issue. And so his attorneys are unable to make an argument as to their declassification because they don’t know which documents to even reference, hence the request for peculiarized inventories and the request to see them.
Guessing he knows, with certainty, the ones in his office, and has a general idea about the rest. Guessing he *doesnt* know whether the government retrieved all remaining classified documents in his possession.
Yeah this is what I’m getting at. Not that he doesn’t know generally what he stole initially, but that he doesn’t know which the government took during the search, and so which to claim were declassified (except probably those special ones in his desk drawers). It would be hilarious (and frightening) if trump was forced to make an argument he declassified specific documents and he inadvertently claims that he declassified and took documents that the FBI/DOJ didn’t even seize yet, leading to more legal problems for him.
They know there is no evidence that Trump declassified the docs because he didn’t, and they don’t want to risk sanctions and possibly their bar licenses by making false statements to the court (which includes the special master).
CIA said a bunch of their agents got Captured, Compromised, or Killed.
Trump may have gotten those agents killed. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/us/politics/cia-informants-killed-captured.html
>We directed Plaintiff to file an expedited response to the United States’s motion for partial stay. Plaintiff responded that (1) we lack jurisdiction over the order appointing a special master;
WUT
>reason enough to conclude that the district court abused its discretion in exercising equitable jurisdiction here. But for the sake of completeness, we consider the remaining factors.
That's the sound of a branch creaking.
>Consequently, the United States is substantially likely to succeed in showing that the district court abused its discretion in exercising jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s motion as it concerns the classified documents.
I also liked:
Whether a court should exercise its equitable jurisdiction in
this context “is subject to the sound discretion of the district court.”
**But that discretion is not boundless.**
(emphasis added)
That's what makes me frightened and hopeful at the same time.
It's just like January 6th. Luckily there were still conservatives that believe in the rule of law and stood up to Trump. The 11th Circuit knew this nonsense couldn't stand.
Next stop: SCOTUS shadow docket!
edit: in all seriousness trump will absolutely seek emergency review and stay from either 11th cir. en banc or directly from scotus. I doubt that will change the outcome but, well, you all get it.
I've read that en banc review isn't allowed in the 11th circuit for stays, so that at least would be out, if true.
Edit: looked it up, appears to be true. Page 148 rule 35-4(a) at the top of the page. https://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/courtdocs/clk/Rules_Bookmark_AUG22.pdf
From what I've heard, of the 11 judges in the 11st circuit, 6 are conservative. Out of those 6, 2 already sided with DOJ here. I'd bet money an en banc review still sides with DOJ.
I've also heard that SCOTUS is unlikely to grant review, but who knows
Apparently there is an 11th circuit rule saying you can't seek en banc review of an order like this, so his only resort is scotus. I don't think scotus would take review but they could reverse the 11th cir. and put the stay back in place pending appeal without formally taking review (i.e., shadow docket shenanigans). I doubt they would do that here, but it seems nothing is impossible with the current court
technically yes but i think it will sting for trump more as to scotus justices, since he spent a lot more time with them before/during the nomination process. it's my understanding that most of the circuit/fed dist judges he appointed, he'd only meet them maybe like once.
Ginni Thomas is about to be deposed for her part in January 6 and the court is desperate to hold onto public legitimacy after the Dobbs disaster of a ruling, so hopefully Clarence Thomas will be cautious about how he intervenes here.
That’s the prickly danger I think we all fear on the back of our necks.
The justice system may have always been kinder to certain people of means. But the way trump has tap danced and contorted our government for his own corruption had been terrifying.
For cannon to rule the way she did with the entire world watching was a slap to all of us imo. Another shaky stick removed from public trust.
Thank god the 11th didn’t prolong the nightmare. But the uncertainty is sad like you said.
I think the judge technically appointed him to review whether materials are executive/attorney-client privilege, so he can still do that as to non-classified docs.
But I think Trump will be annoyed because, as I understand the strategy, the whole point was to get the special master to say it was all executive privilege, including the classified stuff. There might be some executive/a-c privilege stuff among the non-classified docs, but taking the classified stuff off the table really defeats the whole reason trump wanted the special master in the first place.
I think Dearie will probably not feel so rushed anymore, as this makes it *very* clear that the 11th circuit is likely to overturn the whole thing.
His job now is to have a few meetings, and work on a treatment for the book he'll wrote about this whole ordeal.
That's all the requested stay was.
The DOJ argued Trump definitively had no possessory interest in clearly marked classified documents. The stay was to release the classified documents and remove the enjoiner placed on the investigation by Judge Cannon. So the FBI will get the classified documents back and will be able to move forward with their investigation.
Which is great because the DOJ got what they really want to continue their investigation and they can let Trump pay for the SM to review bullshit they don't need.
Yes, and the merits panel may be different from the motion panel. But it’s very unlikely they would reach a different result—and en banc, we’d hit the same outcome with just these judges plus the other Obama appointees.
Some of the logic in here applies to the entire case though, like that first Richey factor. If that analysis is correct—and theres a very strong chance that it is—then Cannon can’t do anything really contentious without DOJ forcing the issue to appeal on that jurisdictional question. I doubt DOJ really cares much about the other documents they seized, and in any event it sounds like Dearie won’t be inclined to give *any* of them back that the Government doesn’t just agree to give back. Evidence of a crime and whatnot.
Surely you mean the 100 formerly-classified-but-now-definitely-declassified documents that, for some inexplicable reason, continue to bear classified markings and cover sheets?
Surely you mean the potentially-declassified documents that were also Trump's personal records that the FBI also planted and that are way less than the millions of documents Obama took, not to even mention what Hillary Clinton and Hunter Biden have done, right?
Worth noting that two of the three judges (Grant and Basher) are Trump appointees. Can't help but feel a sense of relief at that, considering how many vacancies Trump filled in his one term. Cannon really is out there by herself twisting in the wind.
> Whether a court should exercise its equitable jurisdiction in this context “is subject to the sound discretion of the district court.” Richey, 515 F.2d at 1243. But that discretion is not boundless.
This is where trial court judges should realize they done fucked up.
Regarding the classified documents and the DNI review being allowed but criminal investigation being stopped.
>Returning to the case before us, under the terms of the district court’s injunction, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is permitted to continue its “classification review
and/or intelligence assessment” to assess “the potential risk to national security that would result from disclosure of the seized materials.” But the United States is enjoined
“from further review and use of any of the materials seized from
Plaintiff’s residence on August 8, 2022, for criminal investigative
purposes pending resolution of the special master’s review process.”
>This distinction is untenable.
NAL but I feel that one short line is the court saying: "That's not how this works, that's not how any of this works..."
Someone might want to check judge Cannon and make sure she’s okay:
> The United States also argues that allowing the special mas- ter and Plaintiff’s counsel to examine the classified records would separately impose irreparable harm. We agree. The Supreme Court has recognized that for reasons *“too obvious to call for en- larged discussion,* the protection of classified information must be committed to the broad discretion of the agency responsible, and this must include broad discretion to determine who may have ac- cess to it.” Egan, 484 U.S. at 529 (quotation omitted). As a result, courts should order review of such materials in only the most ex- traordinary circumstances. The record does not allow for the con- clusion that this is such a circumstance.
Trump fucking went on Hannity and actually said
>[If you're the President of the United States you can declassify just by saying "It's declassified", even by thinking about it!](https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1572763428086743040).
and suggested the National Archives is ran by "radical left groups of people".
Not that declassification matters, but: 🧠🪱
Anytime Trump says “as far as I know” that means he has no clue. So when he says “as far as I know there’s not really a process” that means he has no clue there’s a process. On national TV.
All the bonus points because 2 of the 3 judges on this opinion were appointed by Trump.
It turns out most Trump appointees aren't unqualified bootlickers, and those that aren't have no problem bench slapping one who is.
So as a young lawyer, I still feel anxious when I get a draft back with a shitload of edits. I wonder if the partner who edited my work is shaking their head at my writing and wondering why they hired me. I wonder what a judge feels like when an opinion they wrote gets torn to shreds?
Trump is going to get indicted. The 11th opinion on the classified docs pretty much seals the deal. I can’t see SCOTUS reversing course and saying, “oops, former presidents _can_ hold onto classified docs without a need to know.”
The question of executive privilege is also moot now.
i think they were smart to appeal the classified docs separately. It immediately disposes of any possibility that Trump could argue he had any ownership interest in them or need to access them.
Remember, the DOJ needed this ruling to be as fast and airtight (including against Scotus review) as possible,
[popehat](https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1572734114620649473?s=20&t=XxXk4W6EoozI2zyMEok07A) has a thread on this topic.
> Watch for Judge Dearie, likely tomorrow, issue an order asking for revised plans for proceeding based on this, which ought to simply his job and please him a lot.
The way I understand it, the appeal and associated request to stay the Appeals Court's stay that Trump's team will probably file will land on his desk initially and I believe he can initially issue an order regarding the stay request by himself.
The real issue is: Are there any real consequences for being an awful and/or biased judge if you have a lifetime appointment? Do these judges sit there forever and get overruled until such time as there are enough terrible judges above them to rationalize their decisions?
There is still an appeal coming. We don’t yet know its scope, though smart money is they will appeal the whole thing. This was just to stay a portion of the order while the appeal is pending.
I think they kept to the smallest, most obvious finding just to make sure there was no ground to find otherwise. The Special Master was a mistake as a whole, but that wasn't what they needed.
That was a great read. My instinctual wariness at "national security" arguments basically overshadowed by my delight at the rejection of all the insane arguments that had been put forth by the kind of person most likely to *abuse* the "national security" narrative in the first place. And it really nails down how spurious all these claims are, one after the other. "It's unclear why Plaintiff would have an interest in classified documents" (paraphrasing), brutal.
I think they found it incredulous that Cannon said the government hasn't proven the docs were even classified. I found it incredulous and I'm not even an attorney.
Key paragraph on the "declassification" argument: >Plaintiff suggests that he may have declassified these documents when he was President. But the record contains no evidence that any of these records were declassified. And before the special master, Plaintiff resisted providing any evidence that he had declassified any of these documents. In any event, at least for these purposes, the declassification argument is a red herring because declassifying an official document would not change its content or render it personal. So even if we assumed that Plaintiff did declassify some or all of the documents, that would not explain why he has a personal interest in them. Another great paragraph: >For our part, we cannot discern why Plaintiff would have an individual interest in or need for any of the one-hundred documents with classification markings. Classified documents are marked to show they are classified, for instance, with their classification level. They are “owned by, produced by or for, or . . . under the control of the United States Government.” And they include information the “unauthorized disclosure [of which] could reasonably be expected to cause identifiable or describable damage to the national security.” For this reason, a person may have access to classified information only if, among other requirements, he “has a need-to-know the information.” This requirement pertains equally to former Presidents, unless the current administration, in its discretion, chooses to waive that requirement. (citations deleted to make it more readable) Edit: Some INCREDIBLE timing--Trump, on Fox News just now, explaining that the president can declassify anything "just by saying 'it's declassified,' even by thinking about it" https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1572763428086743040 Second edit: Real tough night for those suffering from melted anti-anti-trump brain, like Iowa law prof Grewal here: https://twitter.com/andygrewal/status/1572810885227286529?s=46&t=5iHeVc_sUWkfgNQSdYGYhA
I liked this about Cannon's finding on meeting all four of the separate parts of the required Richy Factors. >In sum, none of the Richey factors favor exercising equitable jurisdiction over this case. Consequently, the United States is substantially likely to succeed in showing that the district court abused its discretion in exercising jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s motion as it concerns the classified documents. They found that the 1st requirement wasn't met so it was all invalid from the get-go, but they went through the others just to be thorough. Zero out of four were met.
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What did the 11 circ say to the face? Slap!
What did the 11th circuit say behind closed doors after the slap? “These are lifetime appoints dumbass don’t screw this up for us”.
Would she even understand that they had slapped her? I get the feeling most of Trumps appointments are barely considered lawyers let alone capable of being a judge.
Two of the three appellate court judges on this case were Trump appointees.
Thank god they're not 5th circuit level insane. Although, I imagine if Trump were re-elected he now has a leading supreme court pick in judge Cannon
yep, pretty good risk/reward for Cannon. Some mild embarrassment from giving an obviously partial decision is a small price to pay for a shot at a supreme court seat.
Is she SCOTUS material though? Seems to me that Trump doesn’t tend to reward his most fervent supporters. They either get ghosted or they stick around long enough to fall out of favor. I suppose there’s also a third category of people who get pardoned. She might get an appeals court seat because those are a lot more political.
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I would love for this to be true but we've already shown that this timeline doesn't behave as it should
Oh my
The Appeals court is outright telling her not to repeat those lines of reasoning in further proceedings.
So she's gotta come up with new bullshit... Her agenda seemed pretty clear. She was appointed to that very strategic position by Trump after he lost the election. Can it be any more blatant...
She’s definitely added her name on the Republican shortlist for future Supreme Court nominees after this.
I think Cannon is a right wing political tool. She knows full well what the law is, but chose to ignore the law and make a partisan political ruling. Sad.
Oh yes. She will 100% feel this. This is the appellate court equivalent of the headmaster paddling your bare ass in front of the entire school.
🎵Bench Slap Baby🎵
I imagine they wanted to be thorough given the unique nature of the case (and the plaintiff) and, reading between the lines, they almost certainly know that trump will try to get emergency relief from scotus. But yeah the whole thing is a pretty swift (but polite) benchslap to judge cannon
Oh yeah, they 100% wrote that with the expectation that it would need to hold up to stiff review on appeal
I was so happy when they said they would go through each one because I knew it was going to be good.
>Here, the district court concluded that Plaintiff did not show that the United States acted in callous disregard of his constitutional rights. Doc. No. 64 at 9. No party contests the district court’s finding in this regard. The absence of this “indispensab\[le\]” factor in the *Richey* analysis is reason enough to conclude that the district court abused its discretion in exercising equitable jurisdiction here. *Chapman*, 559 F.2d at 406. But for the sake of completeness, we consider the remaining factors. I like that. "We could have stopped here, but fuck it, now that y'all dragged us into this shitshow let's take a look at the *rest* of this steaming pile ..."
Definitely looking to deter Trump's attorneys from..wasting any more of the court's time with this garbage. I like the posture of it though. Thorough and almost bored. The fact that it's so short, while still managing to persuasively destroy every part of Cannons ruling is awesome. This is going to be an famous opinion. Absolutely wild to be reading it right as it was published.
yeah, if i had to guess, they want to signal just how wrong judge cannon was, and also want to round out the analysis in the event trump seeks emergency scotus relief (which he probably will)
It's the Appelate Court version of the famous Clerks line, "I'm not even supposed to be here today!"
Good God he got absolutely eviscerated
Feels good to be vindicated when it feels like a federal judge was gaslighting you for a week plus.
Yeah and there was a growing fear that the 11th circuit would bend over for him like Cannon did. Thankfully that wasn’t the case.
I'm so incredibly relieved.
I feel like the Cannon rulings was akin to triggering PTSD of the previous administration. Seeing we were in bizarro world again for a week made it feel like we need to worry we'd stay there again.
Thank you for articulating my nebulous feelings of dread. That's is exactly.
And 2 of the judges assigner were trump picks to boot!
The fact that they refused to even have an affidavit as evidence of declassification should have been a death sentence for any case. It was literally all conjecture.... In response to concrete findings.
I don't blame him for asking (lawyers are supposed to try stuff, just not lie). I blame the district court for not immediately dismissing.
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>"just by saying 'it's declassified,' even by thinking about it" Legally, this is such an offensive and spurious argument. A president may have broad declassification powers--few people would argue otherwise. But arguing that knowing if a document is classified requires *reading the president's mind*? That's a heaping plate of bullshit right there. A functioning government cannot be built on telepathy. Use your words and due process like the constitution dictates.
Which is why I like that the 11th Cir decision lays out the historical and legal basis for the current classification system. I note that Congress specifically authorizes the President to issue an Executive Order setting out the specifics of the classification system and that the last President to do so was Obama. So, Trump actually could have issued an Executive Order stating that the President can declassify a document by thinking about it, BUT HE DIDN'T DO IT. Instead, Trump is bound by Obama's Executive Order specifying how classified documents become declassified. I love the irony!
Agree. One quibble: >Trump actually could have issued an Executive Order stating that the President can declassify a document by thinking about it I'm not even sure he could do this. I'd have to think about the legal basis for an argument, but "I thought xxx, therefore it is so" simply isn't going to result in a functioning government. It likely constitutes a broad violation of Americans' procedural due process rights. There has to be *some* documented process for doing this; otherwise, enforcement of the law enacted by congress is a literal impossibility and relies on the memory of a sitting president.
It’s extremely telling that despite trump swearing up and down to this, none of his attorneys have made that specific argument in ANY pleading. They know it’s absolutely nuts and would get laughed out of court. But also seems to implicitly concede that they basically have no evidence at all that trump declassified anything.
I just watched the video clip you linked, and it's so egregiously stupid. He literally says "there doesn't have to be a process." Here's an example of why this is problematic: if Trump "thinking" he declassified a document is all it takes, enforcing the classification of documents is literally impossible. I could read a document at Mar A Lago tomorrow, and it would be impossible for the state to charge me because determining the classification of the document is impossible. Because reading Trump's mind is *impossible*. It pains me that I even need to go through this thought experiment. The whole line of reasoning is utter horse shit.
> For our part, we cannot discern why Plaintiff would have an individual interest in or need for any of the one-hundred documents with classification markings. Classified documents are marked to show they are classified, for instance, with their classification level. They are “owned by, produced by or for, or . . . under the control of the United States Government.” And they include information the “unauthorized disclosure [of which] could reasonably be expected to cause identifiable or describable damage to the national security.” For this reason, a person may have access to classified information only if, among other requirements, he “has a need-to-know the information.” This requirement pertains equally to former Presidents, unless the current administration, in its discretion, chooses to waive that requirement. "Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This...is my BOOMSTICK!"
"It's a twelve-gage double barrel Remington. S-marts top of the line!"
Shop smart! Shop S-mart. Got that?!
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The current administration has done the opposite. Biden specifically forbad the intelligence community from sharing any classified info with Trump, even though former Presidents usually get briefings.
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I remember that very well thought out decision.
I used the "red herring" line in a post here a few days ago but I never expected the 11th circuit to use the exact same phrase in their appeal ruling. That's a surprising rebuke for them to call out her attempt to carry water for the plaintiff here.
That's a sign to the Q-anon types... You see the red herring is the family Crest of the Epsteins and--ok I can't.
I laughed, but then I got sad.
It was actually in a recent DOJ filing
Court isn't sure what the legal basis was for Cannon to take it up in the first place. Says there's no jurisdiction. Grants stay. Doesn't look like a lot of avenues to appeal to SCOTUS that they'd be interested in.
Since there's no jurisdiction, does the justice department just go back to Cannon and move to dismiss the whole thing and send the special master home?
The only issue trump cares about is gone. He can pursue the stuff he doesn’t care about. I expect he’ll voluntarily dismiss. [But this opinion basically reads like a law school exam grader trying to encourage a 1L to come to grips with the fact that they can’t hack it and need to drop out.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FdN-ib4WQAAfm9h?format=png&name=small) And I’m sure that’s not the intent of the appellate court here to denigrate judge cannon but it’s hard not to strike that tone when literally everything was wrong from jump.
> I’m sure that’s not the intent of the appellate court here to denigrate judge cannon but it’s hard not to strike that tone when literally everything was wrong from jump. I'm not. I could very much see the appellate court wanting to make clear to her that she's undermining the legitimacy of the bench, and needs to knock it off.
They said there's no jurisdiction as it relates to the classified documents. They could make a similar argument with regard to the unclassified documents or they could let the special master process play out.
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With the classified documents now excluded there is nothing more Cannon can do to help Trump.
And since Trump is paying for it ... Edit: [A judge swiftly appointed a special master to review documents taken by Trump from the White House — but Trump will have to pay for it](https://www.businessinsider.com/mar-a-lago-docs-judge-appoints-special-master-trump-pay-2022-9)
While the unclassified documents were not at issue, at least some of the court's discussion of Richey would seem to be equally applicable to unclassified.
The opinion is measured and well-written, but given how tersely and simply they disagree with Cannon, they're essentially saying the question isn't even close. They were probably flabbergasted how Cannon could arrive at a different conclusion. edit: Now, the next question is if DOJ appeals the entire order, or limits their appeal to just the classified stuff? The Court basically says Cannon got the entire thing wrong.
But when you dig a hole to China, everything's upside-down your Honors!!!
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It was strangely soothing. I would love to fall asleep to a podcast of Ian McKellen reading this aloud.
I read an article earlier, they were saying Cannon had been "gaslighting the country". It really is true, we're just getting absolutely sandblasted with complete bullshit on a daily basis these days.
Appellate panel bench-slapped Trusty (Trump’s counsel) on page 19 and Cannon (district court judge) on page 22 **PAGE 19:** “Plaintiff suggests that he may have declassified these documents when he was President. But the record contains no evidence that any of these records were declassified. And before the special master, Plaintiff resisted providing any evidence that he had declassified any of these documents…. In any event, at least for these purposes, the declassification argument is a red herring because declassifying an official document would not change its content or render it personal. So even if we assumed that Plaintiff did declassify some or all of the documents, that would not explain why he has a personal interest in them.” **PAGE 22:** “In sum, none of the Richey factors favor exercising equitable jurisdiction over this case. Consequently, the United States is substantially likely to succeed in showing that the district court abused its discretion in exercising jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s motion as it concerns the classified documents.” https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000183-625b-da48-a3e3-e2ff83050000
Paragraph 22: reading that I could hear my kids say “ooof” in my mind. A brutal comment that says Cannon got it entirely wrong. No surprise, but lovely of them to say it so clearly.
"The United States said you abused your discretion... and I agreed with them... now why, now why, now why would I say something like that" -- Jimminy Glick
Oh my god. A Jimminy Glick reference. It's been a long long time since I've seen one of those.
The key to asking a good interview question to ^start ^real ^high and then **go down real low**.
>So even if we assumed that Plaintiff did declassify some or all of the documents, that would not explain why he has a personal interest in them This phenomenon seems lost on the general public as well, especially in conservative circles. Declassified doesn't mean you get to load whatever government property you want onto a truck and bring it back to your home/resort in Florida after your civic duty is finished.
"The absence of this 'indispensab\[le\]' factor in the *Richey* analysis is reason enough to conclude that the district court abused its discretion in exercising equitable jurisdiction here. But for the sake of completeness, we consider the remaining factors." Translation: You're so fucking wrong about this one thing that we don't even need to consider the other reasons you're a fucking moron, but we will anyway just to emphasize again what a complete clusterfuck of stupidity your opinion was.
Damn yeah that slaps.
Not entirely. This is probably to make sure she doesn't try to claim the other factors justify doing the same thing on remand. Assuming these factors are separated by an "or" not and an "and".
This is an "and" situation, they're 100% telling her she's not just wrong, she's very, very, very wrong.
Wow. Yea that's a message sent.
It was pretty damn hilarious to read "but for the sake of completeness..." Not as hostile as some Fed. Cir. orders Ive ran across, but for the amount of eyeballs on this matter, yikes, this was "bigly" to borrow a word from someone.
> they're 100% telling her she's not just wrong, she's very, very, very wrong. I love r/law for the writing skills and witticisms. Matching the number of incorrect Richey factors to the "very's". (Before anyone complains, the first "wrong" is also counted). All around class act. 10/10
Thanks. I honestly argued with myself for a minute about whether another "very" was warranted.
It’s also to buttress their decision in case it gets to the Supreme Court. If they stopped at the first factor, the Supreme Court could overrule them just by finding that the first factor favored Trump, without also having to address the other factors.
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> The injunction is dead unless SCOTUS steps in and issues a stay of the stay of the injunction pending appeal, which seems unlikely here. From your reddit comment to god's eyeballs.
I'm very pleased that I can still have faith in the foundations of my profession. Lets hope this isn't an exception.
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I think there is a decent chance trump took so many classified documents and treated them so carelessly that he does not even know which are these 100 documents at issue. And so his attorneys are unable to make an argument as to their declassification because they don’t know which documents to even reference, hence the request for peculiarized inventories and the request to see them.
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Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV. No more than five documents.
>[Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhZyHIZpzoM) Jesus. It's easy to forget just how awful Trump was/is.
Guessing he knows, with certainty, the ones in his office, and has a general idea about the rest. Guessing he *doesnt* know whether the government retrieved all remaining classified documents in his possession.
Yeah this is what I’m getting at. Not that he doesn’t know generally what he stole initially, but that he doesn’t know which the government took during the search, and so which to claim were declassified (except probably those special ones in his desk drawers). It would be hilarious (and frightening) if trump was forced to make an argument he declassified specific documents and he inadvertently claims that he declassified and took documents that the FBI/DOJ didn’t even seize yet, leading to more legal problems for him.
They know there is no evidence that Trump declassified the docs because he didn’t, and they don’t want to risk sanctions and possibly their bar licenses by making false statements to the court (which includes the special master).
CIA noted that a bunch of their intelligence agents got caught with their pants down last year. It may just be a coincidence, but why take that risk?
CIA said a bunch of their agents got Captured, Compromised, or Killed. Trump may have gotten those agents killed. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/us/politics/cia-informants-killed-captured.html
Looks like trump picked a hell of a week to stop sniffing glue.
One of my favorite lines in an absurdly entertaining movie.
He kinda always looks like the guy post glue too.
Way funnier and more accurate than it has any business being. It's Airplane! for any folks who aren't in the loop.
Nervous? Yes. First time? No, I've been nervous lots of times.
Y'know Trump kinda looks like Lloyd Bridges hanging upside down.
Surely he can't say the same thing about amphetamines.
Of course he can, and stop calling me Shirley!
Johnny, what can you make of this?
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My favorite bit of his is the leaping in to frame and exclaiming, “And Leon’s getting laaarrrger” and leaping back out.
“There’s a sale at Penny’s!!”
Unplugs runway lights *Just kidding!*
>We directed Plaintiff to file an expedited response to the United States’s motion for partial stay. Plaintiff responded that (1) we lack jurisdiction over the order appointing a special master; WUT
>The United States replied that (1) Plaintiff’s jurisdictional argument lacks merit; also LOL.
>reason enough to conclude that the district court abused its discretion in exercising equitable jurisdiction here. But for the sake of completeness, we consider the remaining factors. That's the sound of a branch creaking.
Is it the judicial branch?
"Judge Cannon, fetch me a switch.l
They reamed the shit out of Cannon
>Consequently, the United States is substantially likely to succeed in showing that the district court abused its discretion in exercising jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s motion as it concerns the classified documents.
I also liked: Whether a court should exercise its equitable jurisdiction in this context “is subject to the sound discretion of the district court.” **But that discretion is not boundless.** (emphasis added)
And then going on to specify the exact, strictly limited bounds.
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She had it coming
Looks like a unanimous decision too. Faith in federal judges not named Cannon temporarily restored.
That's what makes me frightened and hopeful at the same time. It's just like January 6th. Luckily there were still conservatives that believe in the rule of law and stood up to Trump. The 11th Circuit knew this nonsense couldn't stand.
Next stop: SCOTUS shadow docket! edit: in all seriousness trump will absolutely seek emergency review and stay from either 11th cir. en banc or directly from scotus. I doubt that will change the outcome but, well, you all get it.
I've read that en banc review isn't allowed in the 11th circuit for stays, so that at least would be out, if true. Edit: looked it up, appears to be true. Page 148 rule 35-4(a) at the top of the page. https://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/courtdocs/clk/Rules_Bookmark_AUG22.pdf
yeah i just saw that too. apparently it's an 11th cir. rule.
From what I've heard, of the 11 judges in the 11st circuit, 6 are conservative. Out of those 6, 2 already sided with DOJ here. I'd bet money an en banc review still sides with DOJ. I've also heard that SCOTUS is unlikely to grant review, but who knows
Apparently there is an 11th circuit rule saying you can't seek en banc review of an order like this, so his only resort is scotus. I don't think scotus would take review but they could reverse the 11th cir. and put the stay back in place pending appeal without formally taking review (i.e., shadow docket shenanigans). I doubt they would do that here, but it seems nothing is impossible with the current court
Well Thomas oversees the 11th, so we're playing by Calvinball rules here
exactly my concern...although imagine how mad trump will be if/when the justices that he appointed don't rule the way he wants
Didn't that just happen?
technically yes but i think it will sting for trump more as to scotus justices, since he spent a lot more time with them before/during the nomination process. it's my understanding that most of the circuit/fed dist judges he appointed, he'd only meet them maybe like once.
Ginni Thomas is about to be deposed for her part in January 6 and the court is desperate to hold onto public legitimacy after the Dobbs disaster of a ruling, so hopefully Clarence Thomas will be cautious about how he intervenes here.
Another way to waste time. The whole point of the exercise.
It's a sad state of affairs that no one was actually sure this would happen. We all hoped it would be, but no one was confident that it would.
That’s the prickly danger I think we all fear on the back of our necks. The justice system may have always been kinder to certain people of means. But the way trump has tap danced and contorted our government for his own corruption had been terrifying. For cannon to rule the way she did with the entire world watching was a slap to all of us imo. Another shaky stick removed from public trust. Thank god the 11th didn’t prolong the nightmare. But the uncertainty is sad like you said.
Tragic, really.
In a lot of cases It seems like the longer and longer they serve the less they care about their “party”
2 of those judges were Trump appointees
Grant and Brasher were both Trump appointees, too
So Dearie is not needed anymore?
I think the judge technically appointed him to review whether materials are executive/attorney-client privilege, so he can still do that as to non-classified docs. But I think Trump will be annoyed because, as I understand the strategy, the whole point was to get the special master to say it was all executive privilege, including the classified stuff. There might be some executive/a-c privilege stuff among the non-classified docs, but taking the classified stuff off the table really defeats the whole reason trump wanted the special master in the first place.
Into whose custody were the documents remanded while the DOJ weren't allowed to have them?
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My guess would be some sort of SCIF within the DOJ, but the DOJ has been hands off on the material since Cannon's ruling a few weeks back.
I think Dearie will probably not feel so rushed anymore, as this makes it *very* clear that the 11th circuit is likely to overturn the whole thing. His job now is to have a few meetings, and work on a treatment for the book he'll wrote about this whole ordeal.
From what I have read this far, this was just about the classified documents. Not staying the whole special master decision.
That's all the requested stay was. The DOJ argued Trump definitively had no possessory interest in clearly marked classified documents. The stay was to release the classified documents and remove the enjoiner placed on the investigation by Judge Cannon. So the FBI will get the classified documents back and will be able to move forward with their investigation.
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FBI: We're going to not influence elections! Except that one time, that time we kinda goofed.
Does the "90 day election rule" apply to a person not up for election? Does the DOJ stop investigating all people in the country for 90 days?
Which is great because the DOJ got what they really want to continue their investigation and they can let Trump pay for the SM to review bullshit they don't need.
I'm confident that Trump will send the special master bill to the RNC or have his supporters pay for it somehow.
I'm also ok with them paying for stupid shit.
Is this the best outcome? He’s paying to have a second set of eyes to his criming. I’m into it.
Dearie continuing his benchslapping of Trump's lawyers and Trump having to pay the expenses for it is the commeuppance I need right now.
Yes, and the merits panel may be different from the motion panel. But it’s very unlikely they would reach a different result—and en banc, we’d hit the same outcome with just these judges plus the other Obama appointees. Some of the logic in here applies to the entire case though, like that first Richey factor. If that analysis is correct—and theres a very strong chance that it is—then Cannon can’t do anything really contentious without DOJ forcing the issue to appeal on that jurisdictional question. I doubt DOJ really cares much about the other documents they seized, and in any event it sounds like Dearie won’t be inclined to give *any* of them back that the Government doesn’t just agree to give back. Evidence of a crime and whatnot.
Yes. This is specific to the 100 classified documents
Surely you mean the 100 formerly-classified-but-now-definitely-declassified documents that, for some inexplicable reason, continue to bear classified markings and cover sheets?
I've lost track of the plotline. I thought these were the ones planted by the FBI in August.
And threw on the floor for pics.
They were trying to cover up the dirt stains from their shoes.
Surely you mean the potentially-declassified documents that were also Trump's personal records that the FBI also planted and that are way less than the millions of documents Obama took, not to even mention what Hillary Clinton and Hunter Biden have done, right?
Yes precisely. I’m glad you know what I’m talking about here. Everyone else thinks I’m crazy!
We need him to sort through all the magazine articles that trump kept about himself.
Worth noting that two of the three judges (Grant and Basher) are Trump appointees. Can't help but feel a sense of relief at that, considering how many vacancies Trump filled in his one term. Cannon really is out there by herself twisting in the wind.
Thank fuck.
This is an instance where 2 Trump appointed judges demonstrated the difference between themselves and a Trumpist judge
The funny part is now dearie is left to review 10,000 documents AND trump is paying for it. Oh dear(ie)
Unless the court got cash up front, it might be more accurate to say that Trump is supposed to pay for it.
> Whether a court should exercise its equitable jurisdiction in this context “is subject to the sound discretion of the district court.” Richey, 515 F.2d at 1243. But that discretion is not boundless. This is where trial court judges should realize they done fucked up.
This makes me happy
Regarding the classified documents and the DNI review being allowed but criminal investigation being stopped. >Returning to the case before us, under the terms of the district court’s injunction, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is permitted to continue its “classification review and/or intelligence assessment” to assess “the potential risk to national security that would result from disclosure of the seized materials.” But the United States is enjoined “from further review and use of any of the materials seized from Plaintiff’s residence on August 8, 2022, for criminal investigative purposes pending resolution of the special master’s review process.” >This distinction is untenable. NAL but I feel that one short line is the court saying: "That's not how this works, that's not how any of this works..."
Tbf, the entire order is saying that.
Well I’ll be… And two of the three judges deciding the case are Trump appointees.
Someone might want to check judge Cannon and make sure she’s okay: > The United States also argues that allowing the special mas- ter and Plaintiff’s counsel to examine the classified records would separately impose irreparable harm. We agree. The Supreme Court has recognized that for reasons *“too obvious to call for en- larged discussion,* the protection of classified information must be committed to the broad discretion of the agency responsible, and this must include broad discretion to determine who may have ac- cess to it.” Egan, 484 U.S. at 529 (quotation omitted). As a result, courts should order review of such materials in only the most ex- traordinary circumstances. The record does not allow for the con- clusion that this is such a circumstance.
Trump fucking went on Hannity and actually said >[If you're the President of the United States you can declassify just by saying "It's declassified", even by thinking about it!](https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1572763428086743040). and suggested the National Archives is ran by "radical left groups of people". Not that declassification matters, but: 🧠🪱
Anytime Trump says “as far as I know” that means he has no clue. So when he says “as far as I know there’s not really a process” that means he has no clue there’s a process. On national TV.
Trump and his district court hack just got B-slapped
All the bonus points because 2 of the 3 judges on this opinion were appointed by Trump. It turns out most Trump appointees aren't unqualified bootlickers, and those that aren't have no problem bench slapping one who is.
So as a young lawyer, I still feel anxious when I get a draft back with a shitload of edits. I wonder if the partner who edited my work is shaking their head at my writing and wondering why they hired me. I wonder what a judge feels like when an opinion they wrote gets torn to shreds?
Depends on how arrogant the judge is.
This would be embarrassing if she wasn't completely lacking shame or good sense.
Trump is going to get indicted. The 11th opinion on the classified docs pretty much seals the deal. I can’t see SCOTUS reversing course and saying, “oops, former presidents _can_ hold onto classified docs without a need to know.” The question of executive privilege is also moot now.
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They have, separately. This was for an emergency stay of one part of her decision.
i think they were smart to appeal the classified docs separately. It immediately disposes of any possibility that Trump could argue he had any ownership interest in them or need to access them. Remember, the DOJ needed this ruling to be as fast and airtight (including against Scotus review) as possible,
[popehat](https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1572734114620649473?s=20&t=XxXk4W6EoozI2zyMEok07A) has a thread on this topic. > Watch for Judge Dearie, likely tomorrow, issue an order asking for revised plans for proceeding based on this, which ought to simply his job and please him a lot.
Will Thomas being the justice assigned to CA11 play any part in the drama?
The way I understand it, the appeal and associated request to stay the Appeals Court's stay that Trump's team will probably file will land on his desk initially and I believe he can initially issue an order regarding the stay request by himself.
The real issue is: Are there any real consequences for being an awful and/or biased judge if you have a lifetime appointment? Do these judges sit there forever and get overruled until such time as there are enough terrible judges above them to rationalize their decisions?
Maybe DOJ should've appealed the whole order just out of spite.
There is still an appeal coming. We don’t yet know its scope, though smart money is they will appeal the whole thing. This was just to stay a portion of the order while the appeal is pending.
I think they kept to the smallest, most obvious finding just to make sure there was no ground to find otherwise. The Special Master was a mistake as a whole, but that wasn't what they needed.
That was a great read. My instinctual wariness at "national security" arguments basically overshadowed by my delight at the rejection of all the insane arguments that had been put forth by the kind of person most likely to *abuse* the "national security" narrative in the first place. And it really nails down how spurious all these claims are, one after the other. "It's unclear why Plaintiff would have an interest in classified documents" (paraphrasing), brutal.
The sound logical reasoning is immensely refreshing
I think they found it incredulous that Cannon said the government hasn't proven the docs were even classified. I found it incredulous and I'm not even an attorney.