In February, former President Donald Trump’s legal team filed a motion to dismiss the indictment of classified documents in Florida, arguing that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s initial appointment and funding were illegitimate.
Judge Aileen Cannon has set a hearing for June 21 to address this motion, and has allowed three outside groups to participate and present relevant arguments on the matter, which is an unusual step according to CNN.
Those three groups, known as amici or “friends of the court,” all previously filed briefs explaining their support for or opposition to Trump’s challenge against the validity of Smith’s initial appointment and every action made since then.
On February 22, attorneys representing former President Trump filed a 16-page motion seeking dismissal of the indictment.
The motion contends that Special Counsel Smith’s appointment and funding by Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Biden administration were unlawful.
It argues that the Special Counsel’s Office was not expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress, and therefore AG Garland did not have the statutory authority to appoint Smith to the position as claimed.
The motion also asserts that the funding for Smith’s office violated the Appropriations Clause because it drew from a “permanent indefinite appropriation” originally established to support the now-defunct “Independent Counsel,” which had been allowed to expire by Congress.

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Judge Cannon established a new set of deadlines for pre-trial motions in a May 7 order.

The judge scheduled a “non-evidentiary hearing” on Trump’s motion to dismiss for unlawful appointment and funding for June 21 and set June 3 as the deadline for amici seeking permission to participate.

By the specified deadline, three requests were submitted and approved.

In a paperless order on Tuesday, the judge allotted 30 minutes for a representative from each group to present their arguments regarding the legitimacy of Special Counsel Smith’s initial appointment and ongoing funding.

The initial amici group is comprised of ex-Republican Attorneys General Ed Meese III and Michael Mukasy, along with constitutional law professors Steven Calabresi and Gary Lawson.

On March 5, they submitted a 25-page brief in favor of former President Trump’s legal challenge against the appointment and funding of Special Counsel Smith.

“Jack Smith does not have authority to prosecute this case. Those actions can be taken only by persons properly appointed as federal officers to properly created federal offices. But neither Smith nor the position of Special Counsel under which he purportedly acts meets those criteria,” they wrote. “He wields tremendous power, answerable to no one. And that is a serious problem for the rule of law — whatever one may think of former President Trump or the conduct Smith challenges in the underlying case.”

The second amici group, consisting of constitutional law professor Seth Barrett Tillman and the Landmark Legal Foundation, submitted a 27-page brief on March 21.

The brief made a similar argument as the first group, contending that the special counsel’s office was illegitimate.

They asserted that Smith did not qualify as an “officer” of the United States in a “continuous” position, but rather as a temporary “employee” without significant prosecutorial authority.

On April 3, a coalition of constitutional lawyers and former government officials presented their opposition to Trump’s motion to dismiss in a 34-page brief.

They defended the appointment of Smith as an “inferior officer” to AG Garland, citing existing statutes as proper authorization.

CNN reported that previous attempts to question the legitimacy of the special counsel’s office, including those aimed at former special counsel Robert Mueller, have been unsuccessful in other courts.
The news outlet also highlighted that Judge Cannon’s decision to allow three outside amici groups to participate in the June 21 hearing suggests her willingness to consider the possibility that the appointment and funding of Special Counsel Smith may be unlawful.
If proven true, this could lead to an immediate halt to his two prosecutorial efforts against Trump.

Doug Goldsmith

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  • The time proven tactic of the feds is to use unlimited resources (taxpayer funds) to eliminate their enemies by bankrupting them with never ending lawsuits.
    Trump’s wealth is giving him a fair shot at defeating them. Wake up America!

  • Smith is an appointed officer of the government & therefore needed Senate approval. Case closed.

  • RAPE, PILLAGE, PLUNDER, AMERICA YOU’VE BEEN HAD!

    America, take it from a very old soldier/cop. Most of the actions taken and/or not taken by the American judicial system just since Joe Biden joined the Senate in the seventies and Donald Trump came down that escalator are really not all that new. But, the acts of ignoring the criminal history of the entire Biden family and falsely convicting an ex-president clearly demonstrates that the democrats dominating the political class, the bureaucracy, the media, and academia have become louder, more corrupt, more self-serving, and have no regard for the rights/concerns of their fellow Americans. Question you have to ask yourself is; do you really know the true degree of threat the democrats present to you, your family, and your way of life?

    As a retired soldier/cop who joined the army at the age of 17, spent over 30 years as a soldier/military cop after swearing to protect the American people from all threats (both foreign and domestic), followed by many years as a civilian police chief sworn to serve and protect the folks in my community, I present you with 10 of the many lessons learned I first presented over 35 years ago to the citizens of my community.

    AN OLD SOLDIER/COP’S LESSONS LEARNED.

    *The ‘Seven C’s of Leadership’ according to a survey of Vietnam era ground combat veterans listed of the order of their importance to the veterans are; Candor, Competence, Consistency, Commitment, Courage, Compassion, and Courtesy. The reason the soldiers chose “candor” is because candor encompasses both omission and co-mission. To a combat soldier the lack of absolute candor, be it co-mission or omission, are equal sins! It has been my observation that, democrats are masters of co-mission while republicans are masters of omission!

    *The American people are the most effectively lied to people in modern times thanks primarily to the political class, the bureaucracies at every level of government, the media, and academia.

    *The American Profession of Arms and our brothers/sisters in blue have failed to protect the American people from all of their enemies, both foreign and ‘most especially’ domestic.

    *American soldiers and police officers must in addition to mastering all of their professionally mandated tasks learn to accomplish the same with at least one arm tied behind their backs, and their vision and hearing impaired 50% or more.

    *Soldiers (especially ground combat soldiers) do not fight first and foremost for their country, the flag, motherhood, girls back home, nor apple pie. Before all else, soldiers engaged in ground combat fight for their fellow soldiers and their unit. Why? Because in every war/police action/whatever in the twentieth century and thus far in the twenty-first, the strategies/tactics adopted by mostly incompetent/corrupt military and civilian managers (notice, I said managers not leaders) were/are primarily designed to benefit the military/industrial/political complex with far less regard for those personnel charged with employing the same. In short, the American soldier has been a mercenary throughout most of our history and were officially branded the same in 1969 with the creation of the “All Volunteer Army (VOLAR)”.

    *Most of the politicians/bureaucrats/academicians/media types I have encountered during my years as a soldier and a cop I most kindly refer to as; self-serving, corrupt, incompetent, witless, cowards. Note: Prior to retiring to the deep woods I referred to most of the before mentioned folks as self-serving, corrupt, incompetent, witless, cowardly, piss-ants. After a short time in the woods I came to know that piss-ants are neither self-serving nor witless, and certainly not cowards!

    *After carefully watching the whole of the political class for many years I can say without reservation that most of the group will sell their souls and our bodies just to remain in power.
    *The end goal of the elites and their minions is not (nor ever has been) socialism, communism, fascism, or capitalism. The elites of the world have used all manner of ideologies, religions, terrorism, wars, etc., to drive the masses/peasants/serfs/whoever in one direction. That direction leads to one of the oldest forms of human control ever employed in the history of mankind. That form of human control is Feudalism!

    *The greatest threats to the American people are the corrupt and/or incompetent politicians/bureaucrats/academicians found at every level of government/academia, and the majority of the so-called media.

    *If the so-called ‘progressive movement’ continues unchecked a number of able veterans/soldiers/cops are going to be presented with a challenge/decision. Are the American people worth another drop of our sweat and/or our blood?

    Soldier/Cop, Retired

    Note: These 10 lessons learned and an additional 12 were prepared as part of the prelude of a book that detailed an investigation that named as subjects a large number of politicians and bureaucrats including a first term senator named Biden, a governor named Bush, and a state attorney general named Clinton. Do I have to tell any of you what government office each of these politicians managed to take?

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