Justice Department seeks to revive Trump documents case and defends role of special counsel

Special counsel Jack Smith is arguing to revive his office’s classified documents case against Donald Trump with a vigorous defense of its authority in the first formal filing since Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the criminal case last month.

In a brief filed with the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on Monday, Smith argues that Cannon’s decision to end the Trump case because the prosecutors’ office lacked constitutional authority was “novel” and “lack[ed] merit.”

Cannon had ruled the Justice Department didn’t have the ability to appoint or fund special counsels like Smith.

Smith’s team also cast the decision from Cannon as not just affecting other special counsel prosecutions – of which there are several ongoing in other courts, against Trump and Hunter Biden, among others – but also as potentially affecting the power of leaders across the federal government.

“If the Attorney General lacks the power to appoint inferior officers, that conclusion would invalidate the appointment of every member of the Department who exercises significant authority and occupies a continuing office, other than the few that are specifically identified by statute,” Smith’s office wrote in the 81-page filing.

“The district court’s rationale would likewise raise questions about hundreds of appointments throughout the Executive Branch, including in the Departments of Defense, State, Treasury, and Labor,” the prosecutors added.

This story has been updated with additional details.