The legal case accusing Donald Trump of taking classified documents has been dismissed after a judge ruled that the appointment of the lawyer prosecuting him was unconstitutional.
The case, which was due to be heard in Florida, accused Trump of taking classified material from the White House and storing them at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach after leaving office.
On Monday, Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated by Trump, agreed with the former president’s legal team that the appointment of Jack Smith as a special prosecutor was unconstitutional.
“The superseding indictment is dismissed because Special Counsel Smith’s appointment violates the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution,” she wrote.
The case, which is one of four pending against Trump, had previously been indefinitely postponed. The decision to dismiss it could now be overturned on appeal.
Judge Cannon was appointed to the bench by Trump in his final year in office, and had been accused by Mr Smith’s team of being in the pocket of the former president.
Trump’s legal team argued that Mr Smith’s office was unconstitutional, because he has too much independence from the federal Justice Department that appointed him.
The judge said that her ruling only applies in the classified documents case, and not in the election interference case in Washington that Mr Smith is also leading.
Prosecutors claimed that Trump had violated the Espionage Act by inappropriately storing 32 sensitive documents at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. The charges carry a sentence of 20 years in prison, if he was convicted.
A trial had originally been slated to begin on May 20. However, the case has been mired in a variety of legal challenges, and was not expected to be heard before the presidential election on Nov 5.
If he won the election, Trump could pardon himself of any federal convictions.
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