Delay was one of the features of U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s handling of the classified documents case in Florida. That theme continues even after she dismissed the case last year, because she hasn’t ruled on long-pending motions seeking the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report on the matter, which she blocked in January.
On Monday, the federal appeals court that covers Florida issued an order putting Cannon on a two-month clock to rule. In a one-page order, a three-judge panel noted that the Trump-appointed trial judge has had release motions pending before her months, but that she “has not ruled or conducted any other further proceedings on the pending motions.”
The panel said that amounted to “undue delay” and gave the judge 60 more days to rule.
American Oversight and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University have been pressing for release of Smith’s report.
Depending on what Cannon eventually decides, the issue could wind up back on appeal at the circuit court that had previously reversed her handling of the documents litigation before Trump was charged. After Cannon dismissed the case last year on the grounds that Smith was unlawfully appointed, he appealed to the circuit court but, before the court ruled on Cannon’s dismissal, he withdrew the appeal after Trump won the 2024 election, citing the Justice Department’s policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the Supreme Court and developments in the Trump administration’s legal cases.
Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro," a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined MS NOW, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.
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