Mar-a-Lago judge makes surprise ruling allowing right-wing activist lawyers to defend Trump in court

The federal judge presiding over Donald Trump’s classified documents case in Florida will allow several parties uninvolved in the case to argue in court over Trump’s attempt to dismiss the charges against him, an extraordinary and rare move from a judge who has come under fire for a series of favorable rulings for the convicted former president.

US District Judge Aileen Cannon – who was appointed to the bench by Trump in 2020 – will allow two right-wing activist attorneys to argue in support of Trump’s motion to dismiss the charges against him by claiming that special counsel Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed.

The judge will hear from Josh Blackman with the conservative Landmark Legal Foundation as well as Gene Schaerr, who represents right-wing Citizen United legal advocacy group and a Heritage Foundation-linked group of former Republican attorneys general.

In a motion to argue in support of Trump, the groups claimed that the US Supreme Court “will take a keen interest” in the judge’s decision, signaling that a challenge at the nation’s highest court could follow, prolonging a trial over Trump’s allegedly unlawful retention of classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago compound.

Judge Cannon also allowed one constitutional law expert, Matthew Seligman with Stanford’s Constitutional Law Center, to defend Smith’s appointment on behalf of a group of former federal officials and US attorneys, legal scholars and pro-democracy advocates.

Oral arguments on Trump’s motion are scheduled for June 21. Prosecutors and Trump’s attorneys must file their briefs by June 11.

It is highly unusual for a federal trial judge to allow third parties who are not affiliated with the case to argue in court during a criminal case as part of the