This news first revealed in April and gained renewed attention Thursday when a different judge dismissed Trump’s lawsuit in a scathing ruling, saying his claims “are not only unsupported by any legal authority, but are clearly barred by binding precedent ». “I note that Plaintiff filed this suit in the Fort Pierce Division of this District, which has only one federal judge: Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Plaintiff in 2020,” Southern District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks wrote in a footnote. District of Florida. in separate motion. “Against the odds, this case came down to me,” Middlebrooks wrote. Cannon is the Trump-appointed judge who this week intervened in the Justice Department’s investigation into Trump potential mishandling of classified information, agreeing to grant his request for an independent review of the material that FBI agents have found out. Trump had requested the appointment of a special master to assess whether the government took anything from his Florida residence that might be protected by attorney-client privilege or his status as a former president. A phone and text message left with a Trump representative was not immediately returned. Trump’s lawsuit was filed in March. The following month his team filed a motion to fire Middlebrooks, who was appointed to the bench in 1997 by President Bill Clinton. In releasing his decision on Trump’s lawsuit, Middlebrooks also released his order denying his removal from the case. “The law is well settled,” wrote Middlebrooks, “that appointment to the bench by a litigant, without more,” is not sufficient ground for discharge. He added: I have never met or spoken to Bill or Hillary Clinton. Other than being nominated by Bill Clinton, I am not now nor have I ever had any affiliation with the Clintons. … Every federal judge is appointed by a president affiliated with a major political party, and thus every federal judge could theoretically be held accountable to one degree or another. As judges, we must all rise above politics. In the footnote highlighting Trump’s attempt to appeal to a judge he appointed to the bench, Middlebrooks added: “When the Plaintiff is a litigant before a judge he appointed, he does not tend to advance these same kinds of bias concerns.”
