Melissa Murray, a legal analyst for MSNBC, had harsh words for U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Friday, just hours after the judge held a meeting to decide if Jack Smith’s appointment as special counsel was legal.
Smith has filed charges against Trump in Washington, D.C., for trying to overturn the 2020 election and in Florida for keeping government papers after leaving office. In both cases, the former president has pleaded not guilty to all charges. In the second case, which is being heard in the U.S. Southern District of Florida, Cannon is in charge.
Trump put Cannon on the federal bench in 2020, and she has made some choices that make no sense. Some lawyers say it’s because she’s not very experienced, but a lot of them say the judge is taking her time with the case so it doesn’t go to trial before the election. Cannon has moved the start date of the hearing back.
Murray went on Friday’s episode of All In, where host Chris Hayes said that a federal criminal case involving a former president is a first, but that the legality of a special counsel is well known.
“This case does bring up some interesting issues, and it’s kind of a first,” the host said. “So it’s not like, ‘Oh, this is exactly how it should be done.'” What about this claim, though? The special counsel is unconstitutional. This should be pretty easy for a district judge following Supreme Court law, right Melissa?
He told her, “Girl, stay in your lane.” “Do not stray from your lane. In other words, the question of whether the special counsel follows the rules of constitutional law has been answered. That has been talked about in several places. It’s done. We don’t need to go over that again… It would be the Supreme Court, not a judge in Fort Pierce, Florida, who would make the final decision if this were a real problem.
