Legal experts raised questions about how Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon wound up overseeing his dispute over government documents seized from Mar-a-Lago after an investigation by The Daily Beast.
Cannon, who was confirmed days after former President Donald Trump's election loss, has frequently raised questions from legal experts after repeatedly siding with Trump in the case. She appointed a special master in response to a request from Trump, barred the Justice Department from investigating documents marked classified and later overruled the special master she chose from Trump's proposed list when he pressed the former president's legal team to provide evidence of his claims that the documents may have been "planted" or "declassified." An appeals court later overturned her order blocking the probe, agreeing with the DOJ that she abused her authority. The Supreme Court declined to intervene after an emergency request from Trump and some legal scholars now expect the entire special master order to be struck down after an appeal from the DOJ.
