Judge Aileen Cannon ignored calls to decline Trump documents case

Her "supervision of the case has alarmed legal experts on both sides of the aisle"

(Image credit: Illustrated / AP Photo / Southern District of Florida)

published 21 June 2024

What happened

Aileen Cannon, the federal judge overseeing Donald Trump's classified documents case, rejected requests from two other Florida judges that she step down from the Trump case and allow a more experienced jurist with less baggage to step in instead, The New York Times said Thursday.

Cannon, appointed by Trump in late 2020, was approached last year by two "more experienced colleagues on the federal bench in Florida" who encouraged her to "consider whether it would be better if she were to decline the high-profile case," the Times said. Cannon has "scant trial experience and had previously shown unusual favor to Mr. Trump."

"For context," said Steve Benen at MSNBC, one of the jurists who approached Cannon was Cecilia Altonaga, the chief judge in the Southern District of Florida and a George W. Bush appointee. Altonaga reportedly told Cannon it would look bad to accept the case after a conservative appellate panel had forcefully reversed her decision to side with Trump in a pre-indictment challenge. Overall, her "supervision of the case has alarmed legal experts on both sides of the aisle," The Hill said.

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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.