Judge tosses Trump documents case, ruling prosecutor was unlawfully appointed

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

56% : It marked another blockbuster legal triumph for Trump.
48% : The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on July 1 that Trump cannot be prosecuted for actions that were within his constitutional powers as president - a landmark decision recognizing for the first time any form of presidential immunity from prosecution.
40% : In the documents case, Trump was indicted on charges that he willfully retained sensitive national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office in 2021 and obstructed government efforts to retrieve the material.
34% : Trump is set to be formally named the Republican presidential nominee in Milwaukee this week, challenging Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 U.S. election.
34% : Trump had pleaded not guilty in the documents case and in Smith's other case, as well as to election-related charges in state court in Georgia.
34% : In an unusual move, she allowed three outside lawyers, including two who sided with Trump, to argue during a court hearing focused on Trump's challenge to Smith's appointment.
33% : The judge found that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who named Smith in 2022 to oversee investigations involving Trump, did not have the authority "to appoint a federal officer with the kind of prosecutorial power wielded by Special Counsel Smith.
29% : Cannon's ruling came two days after Trump was the target of an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania.
29% : "Let us come together to END all Weaponization of our Justice System," Trump wrote.
29% : Garland appointed Smith, a public corruption and international war crimes prosecutor, to give investigations into Trump a degree of independence from the Justice Department under Biden's administration.
27% : U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump, ruled that Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution, was unlawfully appointed to his role and did not have the authority to bring the case.
25% : Trump, in a social media post, said Cannon's ruling should be a "just the first step" and called for the dismissal of all four criminal cases against him.
21% : That ruling involved charges pursued by Smith in a separate case against Trump in Washington involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
20% : Cannon's ruling is the most consequential in a series of decisions she has made favoring Trump and expressing skepticism about the conduct of prosecutors.
17% : Trump was convicted in May on New York state felony charges involving hush money paid to a porn star to avert a sex scandal before the 2016 election.
15% : Trump's lawyers challenged the legal authority for Garland's 2022 decision to appoint Smith to lead investigations into Trump.

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