The case against Ryan Routh is (as I predicted) getting more serious, with federal prosecutors in South Florida now charging him with attempting to kill Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
And guess which federal district judge was randomly assigned to preside over the case? Aileen Cannon.
That’s right, it’s the Trump appointee whose dismissal of Trump’s classified documents case is currently being appealed by special counsel Jack Smith, with outside parties pressing the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals not only to reverse Cannon’s dismissal but to assign a new trial judge who doesn’t share her apparent bias for the former president.
So, what does Cannon’s pro-Trump history mean for Routh (who is presumed innocent until proven otherwise by trial or plea)?
Possibly nothing. But one wonders whether he might try to get Cannon kicked off his case due to her apparent favoritism toward the man he’s accused of trying to kill.
Given the 11th Circuit litigation in the classified documents appeal, Routh wouldn’t be the first to formally raise Cannon’s possible bias. Of course, the judge herself could choose to step aside. One reason she might not do so in Routh’s case would be to avoid the negative implications it could have for her handling of Trump’s case. She obviously did not recuse herself then, either, and she will get that case back should Smith get her dismissal reversed without getting a new judge assigned (assuming Trump doesn’t win the election and crush the federal case entirely). Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for updates and expert analysis on the top legal stories. The newsletter will return to its regular weekly schedule when the Supreme Court’s next term kicks off in October.
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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