The legal briefs are piling up in Florida.
In the coming weeks, prosecutors in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case against former President Donald Trump must provide more information to Judge Aileen Cannon in compliance with her latest orders. The judge has questioned the “legal propriety” of bringing charges into her courtroom using an out-of-state grand jury.
In a separate setback for special counsel Jack Smith, Cannon struck two filings by prosecutors from the record. These unusual moves generated a torrent of criticism from legal scholars.
Aside from Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Judge Cannon — who of Cuban American descent — is the most prominent Latina judge in the country. She is overseeing a historic case yet is on track to harm the judiciary system, democracy and her own reputation. Her partisan conduct is an embarrassment.
To understand why Cannon is unfit to hear Trump’s case, start with her ruling last week. In it, Cannon asked about the legality of using a Washington, D.C., grand jury in a Florida-based case. But this is normal procedure, as grand juries can be convened anywhere crimes may have occurred. As a federal judge, Cannon should know this.
It’s no wonder that her orders have earned widespread scorn from legal experts. Former Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe called her approach “dopey and constitutionally dubious.” On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, a former assistant U.S. Attorney wrote that Cannon “clearly shows her ignorance (bias? both?).” And these were some of the kinder reactions.
This is not the first time Cannon has appeared to favor Trump. After the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago last year, the former president filed a civil lawsuit to stop the Department of Justice investigation. Cannon sided with him, in a decision that was overturned by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In a scathing rebuke, the appellate court found multiple serious errors in Cannon’s initial ruling and decided that she didn’t even have jurisdiction in the first place.
These controversies matter to the Latino legal community because it is rare for a Latino judge to be in the national spotlight. In fact, Latino judges are rare. Though Latinos account for about 19 percent of the U.S. population, only 8 percent of federal judges are Latino. Of these, roughly one third are Latinas.
Cannon is part of a long tradition of Latino jurists, from Alonso Perales, who founded the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in 1929, to civil rights pioneer Gus Garcia, who argued before the Supreme Court in 1954 to Justice Sotomayor. Cannon’s role in a hugely consequential legal matter could have been a source of pride for Latinos. Instead, calls are mounting for her recusal.
As she tanks her own credibility, Cannon is likewise letting the Latino community down. According to a June Quinnipiac poll, 60 percent of Latinos are following the documents case closely, and 66 percent believe that Trump handled the classified papers in an inappropriate manner. Like other Americans, Latinos want to see the rule of law applied with impartiality. That hasn’t been the case so far, due to Cannon’s emerging pattern of bias.
Cannon’s apparent fealty to the former president is as troubling as it is unfortunate. Look how that worked out for Alberto Gonzales, whose misplaced loyalty to George W. Bush led the nation’s first Latino attorney general to resign.
Yes, Cannon is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School who previously worked in a D.C. law firm and as a federal prosecutor in Florida. But in her current role, she is a legal time bomb who could blow up a case with immense implications for national security and democracy.
Consider that she had no judicial experience before her lifetime appointment to the federal bench by Trump in 2020. Or that as a prosecutor, she worked on only four criminal cases that resulted in trials, for a total of 14 trial days.
Reuters reports that Cannon made rookie mistakes in a trial in June, such as forgetting to swear in the jury, while the New York Times describes her as a judge “who will be essentially learning on the job.”
To borrow a catchphrase associated with Justice Sotomayor, Judge Cannon is no “Wise Latina.” She must recuse herself from the documents case, or prosecutors should seek to have her replaced. She is too problematic and inexperienced to preside over a criminal trial of Donald Trump.
Raul A. Reyes is an attorney and contributor to NBC Latino and CNN Opinion. Follow him on Twitter @RaulAReyes, Instagram @raulareyes1.