Judge Aileen Cannon will take a more active role in the prosecution of Donald Trump starting this week, when she hears arguments for the first time on this case in her Florida courtroom.
The arguments to discuss procedures for handling classified information could provide insight into how Cannon will preside over the unprecedented case, after she was rebuked last year by a three-judge federal appeals court for granting Trump's request for a special master to review the top-secret documents seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago, reported the Associated Press.
“These things aren’t novel," said Richard Serafini, a Florida criminal defense lawyer and former senior Justice Department official. "They’re not everyday occurrences, but it’s not like, ‘Oh, my goodness, there’s no precedent on any of these things."'
"The eyes of the world are on her," Serafini added. "She is in the middle of writing a chapter in history.”
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Cannon was widely criticized by legal experts for her handling of the case in its earlier stages, and then drew the stinging rebuke from an appeals court, but some Florida lawyers say the Trump-appointed judge would be mindful of the stakes in prosecuting a former president who is currently seeking re-election.
“She is not going to want to do anything but go by the book," said Kendall Coffey, a former U.S. Attorney in Miami who served on an advisory committee that reviewed Cannon’s judicial application. "The challenge is there has never been a book like this. I think she is going to want to be very well-regarded for her judicial leadership of this case."
