Aileen Cannon probably won't get booted from Trump case thanks to Clarence Thomas: analyst

Special counsel Jack Smith urged the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse federal judge Aileen Cannon's decision to dismiss the classified documents case against Donald Trump — but there's little chance she'll be removed, a columnist wrote.

The Trump-appointed judge tossed out the federal case last month by ruling that Smith had been unlawfully appointed and funded, but the special counsel's appellate brief highlighted how unusual her decision was and pointed to numerous contradictions with previous decisions, wrote MSNBC's Jordan Rubin.

"Smith’s brief didn’t indicate his intention to seek a new judge," Rubin wrote. "That doesn’t mean that the appeals court couldn’t still remove her while reversing her, but there’s reason to not expect that here."

Cannon cited U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in her decision, which was based in part on the deeply conservative jurist's concurring opinion in the Trump immunity case in which he questioned Smith's appointment because the special counsel had not been confirmed by Congress.

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"That wasn’t the issue in the immunity case, so we don’t know how many other justices (if any) agree with Thomas," Rubin wrote. "But it would seemingly make it more difficult to kick a judge off a case in part for reaching a decision citing a sitting Supreme Court justice’s reasoning, however flawed that reasoning is."

"Of course, if the high court ultimately upholds Cannon’s ruling if the case gets to the justices, that would moot any reassignment issue — as would a Trump presidential victory in November, which could lead to him eliminating the case entirely," Rubin added.