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June 16, 2023
By Marc Cooper
Here’s some frightening news. As a minor defendant in anti-war protest cases 55 years ago and as a journalist who has observed numerous court hearings and cases, I figure that I have spent about 10 times more days in court than Judge Aileen Cannon, assigned to the Trump case, has spent sitting as an active judge. After she took her lifetime seat on the federal bench three years ago, Judge Cannon has heard a grand total of four cases and as a result has spent a grand total of 14 days actually adjudicating.
But, wait, there’s more. Ms. Cannon had exactly ZERO experience as a trial judge when Mad Donald appointed her in late November 2020 – just at the time he was neck deep in plotting how to remain illegally in power.
Oh, one other detail… before the Senate confirms a federal judge, the nominee must submit everything he or she has ever published or written publicly. Most nominees turn in their articles from various law reviews, their NYTimes op-eds and, of course, their books. Aileen Mercedes Cannon turned in 20 newspaper articles she had written. Seventeen of them were written as a college intern for the Spanish language newspaper of the Miami Herald and they have nothing to do with the law or public policy but rather are about tomatoes and pre-natal yoga. When required by the Senate to disclose any and all speeches, public talks, panel and media appearances, Cannon’s answer was “none.”
Almost no one ever noticed the now 41 year old judge until a few months ago when she got assigned the Trump classified documents case. She immediately broke out her finger painting set and colored pencils and proceeded to so muck up the case so badly, to bend so far in Trump’s direction, to so needlessly extend and complicate the case that within a very short period of time not one but two appeals courts struck down her risible and biased decisions and went so far as to upbraid her. The appeals court essentially said she did not understand the constitutional separation of powers and that her rulings eroded that pillar of democracy. Scores of other legal experts piled on to express their amazement at her poor decisions.
Just saying this in case the 11th Circuit decides to take her off the case in the coming weeks… to let them know that I, also, have never sat before as a judge but that a) I know much more about the constitution than this lady does and b) I am not a known Trump Flunky and c) I am tanned, rested and ready to serve and therefore am inclined to accelerate rather than obstruct the pace of the trial.
Guess there’s one problem with my proposal. Unlike Ms. Cannon, I did not spend a previous fifteen years as a loyal ideological robot in the extreme right Federalist Society – quite literally the primary incubator of our current gargoyle-studded Supreme Court as well as much of the federal judiciary as a whole as well as Cannon herself.
Apparently, her tissue thin legal credentials were outweighed by her political obedience to the outgoing and deranged president who appointed her. And just in case you think this is strictly a Republican production, keep in mind that twelve Senate Democrats also voted along with the insurrectionists on the other side of the aisle to put her over the top and confirm this has-been star of fifth tier journalism. Keep this in mind… that the confirmation vote came on November 20, 2020 after the election Trump lost and after Trump had shoved dozens of Federalist Society-vetted reactionaries onto the federal bench and after it was clear that in two more months Democrats would have the Senate majority. Wouldn’t this been like the right moment to put an end to this conveyor belt of Trumplicans making it into black robes in the federal courts?
I think so. But not everybody. Turns out that only 44 Republicans voted for her confirmation (many senators were just not present because, um, confirming a federal judge for life can hardly be termed important enough to show up). She could only be confirmed with the help of a half dozen Democrats to get her over the line. And now that top Democrat Joe Biden has offered up so many paeans to bi-partisanship, the Dems were generous enough to give Cannon twice the number of yes votes she needed.
Here are the twelve Democratic senators we need to acknowledge for voting to confirm quite possibly the worst judge in recent American history who will now get to oversee, run and, if she feels like it, sabotage or sink what is to date the most important federal prosecution in recent memory:
Jacky Rosen – Nevada.
Mark Warner – Virginia
Joe Manchin – West Virginia
Pat Leahy – Vermont
Tim Kaine – Virginia
Chris Murphy – Connecticut
Doug Jones- Alabama
Maggie Hassan – New Hampshire
Catherine Cortez Mastro – Nevada
Chris Coons – Delaware
Tom Carper – Delaware
And, last, but certainly not least…
Dianne Feinstein of California.
Some of these jokers are still in the Senate (even if some might not be sure where they are in any given moment). We should bring heavy pressure on that other set of jokers known as The Media to make sure that if any of the above attempt to make any public statements questioning the integrity, seriousness and probity of Federal Judge Cannon, they should first be asked if they wish to apologize for or at least explain their vote to confirm her.
Then, the mandatory follow-up question is the same question that should be asked of anybody not ready to toss this poor excuse for a judge into the rubbish bin: “Do you think it is OK for a judge to hear a case where the president who appointed her is the defendant? A simples yes or no, please.”
[While we are on the subject of questions…the first question each GOP candidate should be asked and made to answer with as many follow-ups as needed at the Republican Presidential Debate should be: “Do you agree that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and that Joe Biden is currently the legitimate president of the United States?” No answer and you are disqualified from further participation].
The damage this judge could do ranks as catastrophic. As the trial judge she could literally impose a zero sentence on Trump even if found guilty on three dozen felony counts…that’s if she doesn’t delay and delay and delay the trial until Trump has already been re-elected or croaked.
On the other hand…given her history as a skilled political opportunist, it’s possible that Cannon might decide to suddenly play bad cop in order to snuggle up to whatever greater powers might replace Trump, Or maybe she just got sufficiently humiliated by the appeals courts rebuke to try and act with a modicum of fairness. Possible. Not probable. Problem is, she just seems not that smart and is capable of an infinity of stupidities.
It’s still not clear if the DOJ or the 11th Circuit will move to replace her. She certainly is not going to recuse herself as she knows this trial is just one step on the ladder below a big book deal and maybe a Judge Aileen Show on Newsmax when she tires of the real court room. Or if she absolves her hero and mentor and, God Forbid, he’s re-elected, she might dream of being the first mentally challenged justice of the US Supreme Court (though she will have to find a billionaire to be her sponsor, BFF and vacation provider).
That said – and you can call me terribly naïve—I am certain that Trump is, in fact, toast. Even if Cannon goes super easy on him, Trump is going to spend the rest of his time on earth not in the Oval Office, but in constant civil and criminal litigation. Somewhere in between he’s a dead-on favorite to lose one more presidential election. He will also soon be indicted for election subversion and possibly a RICO charge in Georgia and there’s a greater chance than not that Jack Smith will also tag him and bag him for January 6th. Candidate Trump? Yes. Nominee Trump? Possibly. Serial Defendant Trump: a total certainty.
I am just as guilty as many in too closely following the Trump story thereby giving undue weight and importance to every daily development. Some of them really are mind-boggling. Many are not. Who the judge is in this case is more in the first category. But the trick here is to not get distracted by the small stuff but rather to identify and analyze the larger trend lines.
Sorry to sound arrogant, but those are fairly easy to discern as follow: The walls are closing in. With every passing day, Trump is angrier and more inflammatory. His hard core supporters are more radical than ever and represent an authentic public danger as Trump sinks. But there are fewer of them every day. On TV we see the crazier folks draped in flag suits who are ready to set themselves and others aflame for The Dear Orange Leader. We don’t see, almost ever, the millions of less exuberant former Trump voters who have quietly become disgusted by him and are not about to re-elect him. Even that growing pack of salamanders who claim to be challenging Trump for the GOP nomination have finally begun painfully crawling toward more direct criticism of Trump. They also read the trends.
Trend Summary: Circling the Drain. ++
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