Judge Cannon's ruling on access to Trump documents could pave way for her dismissal from case: ex-prosecutor

An adverse ruling for the Department of Justice by the judge overseeing Donald Trump's Florida case could trigger an appeal that would allow a review of her conduct in Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago indictment, according to a legal expert.

And that could lead to Judge Aileen Cannon being removed from the case.

Reviewing the coming week of all things Trump indictments-related, former U. S. Attorney Joyce Vance said a squabble over whether Donald Trump aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago employee Carlos De Oliveira can have "unfettered" access to confidential documents at the center of their indictments could lead to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal going beyond ruling just on that singular point.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

As Vance pointed out on Friday, special counsel Jack Smith's team filed a supplemental motion for a protective order that would prohibit De Oliveira, who lacks a security clearance, from being allowed to review documents that the government considers sensitive.

As she explained in her Substack column, "Since Nauta and De Oliveira are charged with obstructing the investigation and the classified information contained in the documents is not likely to inform their defenses, the government has proposed a protective order that would let cleared counsel review certain documents but require further consideration before the defendants could be made privy to them."

According to the former federal prosecutor, Cannon would have little reason to oppose the DOJ on this point, but should she rule against the DOJ it will trigger an immediate appeal to the 11th Circuit.

Given Cannon's tenuous history with the higher court which consistently ruled against her in the past, Vance said the delay while considering the appeal could give the court time to review her current actions and make a decision about her immediate future.

RELATED: Judge Aileen Cannon could use new Trump complaint to hamstring Jack Smith: legal expert

"Such an order would virtually mandate an appeal by DOJ to protect the information in this case and avoid creating a bad precedent for future ones," Vance explained before stating, "the 11th Circuit has shown it can move quickly when it wants to."

"This would offer an opportunity to consider whether Judge Cannon can remain on the case," she predicted before adding, "We’ll see what happens on this one."