Sarah Burris is a long-time veteran of political campaigns, having worked as a fundraiser and media director across the United States. She transitioned into reporting while working for Rock the Vote, Future Majority and Wiretap Magazine, covering the Millennial Generation's perspective during the presidential elections. As a political writer, Burris has had bylines at CNN, Salon.com, BNR, and AlterNet and serves as a senior digital editor for RawStory.com.
Judge Aileen Cannon has not been without controversy after slowing down the document theft case, and that could get worse.
On Wednesday, Cannon met with the Justice Department's special counsel Jack Smith behind closed doors to discuss which documents are too top-secret to include in the trial. Former prosecutor Joyce Vance expressed her concern that all of it is moving so slowly.
Speaking to MSNBC's Alicia Menendez, Vance explained that there could easily have been a prompt hearing back in December when the schedule was outlined. If there were questions, she said, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has shown it is willing to move quickly to resolve them.
When asked what could come out of the meeting between Cannon and Smith, Vance said that the issues before them aren't as complicated as cases that involve the "nature of the classified information."
"This case," she continued, "is about hanging on to documents that you weren't entitled to have regardless of what the nature of the classified material they contained was. So, this should have been a straightforward situation where Jack Smith said, 'Judge, here are the items that we believe are too deeply classified to be included. And we'd like to delete this material or submit a nonclassified summary.' All of these proceedings are authorized and fairly routinely used in this sort of a case."
Rather than dealing with Section Four of the Classified Information and Procedures Act (CIPA), she's allowed the matter to linger for months. That means the case itself drags on.
So, she said, Judge Cannon should have a simple path before her without the need to deviate from all other cases similar to this. If she does, that's where Vance is concerned things could start getting heated.
"Where we will see fireworks is if she does not," explained Vance. "If she tries to let the Trump lawyers, for instance, look at this, then there will undoubtedly be an appeal. And of course, the real ball game is what gets put into trial in a courtroom, ultimately."