Before she became a federal judge — not just any judge, but the Donald Trump appointee who put the brakes on the high-profile investigation into the former president’s classified documents at Mar-a-Lago — Aileen Mercedes Cannon was, for the blink of an eye, a worker journalist. It was 20 years before Cannon, who was assigned to a court in Fort Pierce, Florida, caused ecstasy and outrage, depending on how one views the former president. Over the course of three months, Cannon received over a dozen articles published by el Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language daily newspaper that is the sister publication of the Miami Herald. Born in Cali, Colombia, she was one of many interns to pass through the two newsrooms over the years. Some remain on staff as full employees. Some still need to earn a degree and return to campus. Others end up in different newsrooms or in alternative careers. el Nuevo Herald’s articles would have been long forgotten except that they ended up in Cannon’s court filing, a petition now being scrutinized as critics question her decision to support Trump’s request to appoint a “special master” to review all of the documents the FBI seized when they executed a search warrant at his Florida home. The judge’s order halted the government’s investigation of those sensitive records. The judge’s intervention, which the Justice Department is seeking to overturn, was welcomed by supporters of the former president but attacked by critics, who said it was intended to delay the ongoing criminal investigation into the former president. Critics, mired in the request for evidence, questioned Cannon’s qualifications and accused Trump’s legal team of shopping for a sympathetic judge. Nominated by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Cannon was confirmed in the period after Trump’s election loss as efforts were made to confirm as many judges as possible before the new administration took over. The application Cannon completed asks the following question: “Record the titles, publishers, and dates of books, articles, reports, letters to the editor, editorial pieces, or other published material that you have written or edited, including material published in Internet. “ Cannon listed 20 items. Three are scientific in nature and 17 are short news stories in el Nuevo Herald from the summer of 2002. None had anything to do with the law or the inside of a courtroom. Titles included: ▪ “Tomatoes may help reduce tumors” ▪ “The Atoms Family: An Exhibition about Energy” ▪ “Library Search Contest Winners” ▪ “Prenatal Yoga: A Healthy Alternative to Childbirth” The Miami Herald spoke with ten el Nuevo Herald employees from that time. No one could recall any association with Cannon during her brief stay 20 years ago. Myriam Amenguer, a receptionist at the time, said she met almost all the interns from that time but doesn’t remember Cannon, who was from Duke University and eventually headed to the University of Michigan Law School and then Justice. Department, where he became an attorney in the civil rights division. Jeannette Rivera, who worked at el Nuevo covering state and county government in 2002, said while she remembers many of the interns, she doesn’t remember Cannon. Rivera later said she spoke with other former employees at the time to no avail. “It seems to me that her internship was trivial to say the least.” For decades, some journalists have switched careers and chosen to pursue law degrees, often after covering stories about complex legal issues. Few become federal judges. Fewer still presides over the most volatile, high-profile case in the country. This story was originally published on September 9, 2022 at 4:59 pm.
