The Florida judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal case over classified documents appears to have inadvertently created a "secret docket," a legal expert said on Wednesday.
The former president was indicted after being accused of unlawfully stashing the confidential documents from his time at the White House, and of refusing to give them up when subpoenaed by federal authorities. Since that time, Judge Aileen Cannon has been repeatedly accused of bias in favor of the ex-president.
ALSO READ: ‘America First’ is Trump first, Russia close second
Lawfare's Roger Parloff on Wednesday pointed out that the judge may have created a "secret docket." This can be compared to the Supreme Court's reported "shadow docket, which is "where the Court rules on procedural matters, such as scheduling and issuing injunctions," according to the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law.
"Weirdly, in an effort to effectuate a policy of extreme open access to court documents, Judge Cannon has inadvertently created a temporary secret docket," he wrote. "On Feb 6, apparently feeling that the govt was keeping too many (unclassified) documents sealed, she ordered that no more redacted or sealed filings would be accepted without a prior *public* showing of particularized need."
He continued:
"Accordingly, last Thurs, when the defense filed motions to dismiss & suppress, instead of filing redacted motions with sealed exhibits, as in the past, at least eight of their motions were not filed at all. Instead, following the judge’s instructions, the attys emailed them to each other & to the court. Trump made a public filing to reference his 3 emailed motions but, Nauta didn’t, so there was no public trace of his 5."
He added, "We learned of Nauta’s only this morning, when the govt filed its proposed redactions to the emailed motions. On Fri Cannon will hear arguments on public access, as well as on whether to postpone the trial date—and till when."
