Why Controversial Judge Aileen Cannon Won’t Oversee Donald Trump’s Arraignment
The assignment of U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to oversee former President Donald Trump’s federal trial for mishandling government documents has proven controversial. So when it was announced that a different judge will be on the bench for Trump’s arraignment on Tuesday, that raised eyebrows among some observers.
Did this mean that the case was being reassigned from Cannon, whom Trump appointed? Or that she would recuse herself, as some commentators have demanded? Not so fast. A different judge will be handling Trump’s arraignment and bond issues, but that’s likely just for procedural reasons. Cannon is still slated to remain lead judge on the trial for now.
Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman will preside over Trump’s arraignment on Tuesday, which will mark the former president’s first court appearance in a federal indictment that includes 37 felony counts stemming from a Justice Department investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office in January 2021.
Trump has called the investigation and indictment a witch hunt and proclaimed in an all-caps message on Truth Social, “I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!” The case is sure to inflame observers across the political spectrum. Already political commentators and legal analysts have widely criticized Cannon for her perceived bias in Trump’s favor during prior cases.
Why Goodman Instead of Cannon?
On Monday, the Miami Herald reported that Goodman would be handling Trump’s June 12 arraignment, which is expected to be held at 3 p.m. Trump will plead not guilty, after which it is widely expected he will be released rather than remitted to jail pending his trial, which as not yet been scheduled.
The Herald described Goodman as “a well-regarded veteran magistrate” known for “not only his legal wisdom, but also for his wry humor in the courtroom.” A former South Florida newspaper reporter before obtaining his law degree, Goodman practiced civil litigation and was a shareholder with the Miami law firm Akerman Senterfitt before becoming magistrate in 2010.
The announcement that Goodman will oversee the arraignment led to immediate speculation on social media about whether Cannon was being replaced. Just hours after it was announced, Newsweek ran a story with the headline “Was Controversial Pro-Trump Judge Taken Off High Stakes Case?”
However, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, it’s typical for magistrate judges to conduct initial appearances and arraignments, while a district judge is typically responsible for supervising pretrial processes and conducting trials. So Goodman’s participation doesn’t necessarily mean Cannon won’t be involved in the trial.
Why Is Cannon Controversial?
Cannon has been serving as a federal judge for the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Florida since November 2020. A Trump appointee, she presided over a lawsuit Trump filed seeking the appointment of a special master to review materials the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach as part of the federal government’s investigation.
Cannon ordered the government to pause its use of those seized materials and granted Trump’s request for a special master to review them. An appellate court later reversed that decision, finding Cannon didn’t have the jurisdiction to consider that request, and ordered Cannon to dismiss Trump’s lawsuit, which she did in December 2022.
The National Law Review called the appellate ruling a “rebuke” of Cannon, quoting New York University law professor Peter M. Shane: “It’s like a civil procedure professor giving a student a failing grade. If an appellate court tells a lower court that we can only accept your judgment by betraying one of the nation’s founding principles, that’s a pretty strong rebuke.”
After Trump’s indictment was filed on Thursday, Cannon was randomly assigned to the case, according to the Miami Herald. Former federal prosecutor Neama Rehmani told Newsweek Cannon was a “favorable draw” for Trump and that she “gave him favorable, and incorrect, rulings with respect to the search warrant that was executed and the special master.”
The selection of Cannon has led to multiple calls for her recusal, with three legal experts writing in Slate that her “prior, fundamentally erroneous approach casts a shadow over the proceedings” and that “reasonable observers of this case could question her impartiality.” Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner also said she should step down so the public can have “faith and trust and confidence” in the judicial process.
Whether Cannon will remain the lead judge at Trump’s trial remains to be seen. However, Jordan Rubin of MSNBC wrote that if prosecutors sought to have Cannon removed, precedents from past circuit case law suggests Cannon’s removal is “possible but not a foregone conclusion.”
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