The latest effort to toss Alina Habba draws on an unusual source: Aileen Cannon
Mirigliano's bid is a long shot, meant to spare his client from further prosecution for gun and drug crimes that were brought by a grand jury and filed in 2024 when there was no uncertainty about the leadership of the U.S. attorney's office. But it's one of the first efforts to turn Cannon's ruling against the Trump administration's interests.
The case, which is pending before U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann, an Obama appointee based in Pennsylvania, challenges Habba's authority to run the office and prosecute criminal cases. Brann is not yet sold that questions around Habba's appointment should derail ongoing prosecutions that have largely been carried out by assistant U.S. attorneys. However, the issue has roiled federal criminal cases in New Jersey while the matter remains unresolved.
Cannon last summer concluded in a 93-page ruling that Smith's appointment violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution and, in turn, she dismissed the federal criminal case against Trump charging him with amassing highly sensitive national security secrets at Mar-a-Lago and then obstructing government efforts to reclaim them.
Though Smith appealed Cannon's ruling, the case was ultimately dropped after Trump won the 2024 election, so the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals never ruled on the matter. Cannon's ruling itself does not bind any other court, but Brann could consider it as he weighs Giraud's argument.
Cannon's ruling doesn't deal directly with the roundabout way Trump maneuvered to keep Habba in her role. But her ruling made broad assertions about limitations on presidential appointment powers.
'It is undisputed, and correct, that all United States Attorneys (93 currently) have been appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate throughout our Nation's history, except that Congress has permitted the Attorney General to appoint interim United States Attorneys with specific restrictions,' Cannon ruled.
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