FIRST, WE KILL ALL THE LAWYERS...

In “Henry VI,” the character "Dick The Butcher" says "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers". It is among Shakespeare's most famous lines, as well as one of his most controversial.

Dick is a follower of anarchist Jack Cade, whom Shakespeare depicts as “the head of an army of rabble and a demagogue pandering to the ignorant,” who seeks to overthrow the government. Killing all the lawyers is Dick’s solution to how the band of pretenders to the throne can improve the country.

In fact, Shakespeare meant the line as a compliment to attorneys and judges who instill justice in society, that without them the “demagogue pandering to the ignorant” could make himself king.

The rule of law is the main defense against the imposition of dictatorship.

Just before the close of business today, Judge Aileen “Lucy” Cannon took a sledgehammer to the rule of law when she denied a bid from the Department of Justice to keep using classified records seized from Mar-a-Lago last month in their continuing investigation.

In her first ruling, Cannon suggested that Trump, as a former President, deserved special treatment because of his heightened reputation. It was a shocking statement from a federal judge that directly contradicted the principles of equality before the law that form the justice system.

Cannon addressed that directly at the end of her ruling today, suggesting that Trump was receiving unfair treatment because of who he is adding that, as a judge, she needed to “consider the specific context at issue, and that consideration is inherently impacted by the position formerly held by Plaintiff.”

She then proceeded with her attack on the institution that upholds the rule of law.

“Lastly, the Court agrees with the Government that ‘the public is best served by evenhanded adherence to established principles of civil and criminal procedure,’ regardless of the personal identity of the parties involved. It is also true, of course, that evenhanded procedure does not demand unquestioning trust in the determinations of the Department of Justice.”

Cannon wrote that the DOJ was asking her to adopt its premises “hastily without further review by a Special Master.”

Trump claimed that, as a former President, some of the records may be covered by Executive Privilege, but neither he nor current President Biden has made any assertion of Executive Privilege regarding these documents. But Cannon ruled that she was unwilling to accept the DOJ’s “premise” that none of the records were likely to be protected by the privilege.

“The Court does not find it appropriate to accept the Government’s conclusions on these important and disputed issues without further review by a neutral third party in an expedited and orderly fashion.”

Cannon then appointed Judge Raymond Dearie as a special master to sort through records obtained by the Justice Department from Mar-a-Lago.

The issues of whether the records were classified and whether anyone had asserted Executive Privilege over them remain uncontested in the docket, but in Cannon’s ruling, they’re the subject of furious contention. “In many respects, the Government’s position thus presupposes the content, designation, and associated interests in materials under its control. Yet, as the parties’ competing filings reveal, there are disputes as to the proper designation of the seized materials, the legal implications flowing from those designations, and the intersecting bodies of law permeating those designations.”

Cannon declared that the harm from halting the criminal investigation and potentially slowing down the intelligence assessment would not be serious. “There has been no actual suggestion by the Government of any identifiable emergency or imminent disclosure of classified information arising from Plaintiff’s allegedly unlawful retention of the seized property.” Cannon went on to suggest the DOJ had leaked information about the classified records to the press after the searches.

Cannon then appointed Judge Raymond Dearie as a special master to sort through records obtained by the Justice Department from Mar-a-Lago.

There’s no analyzing Lucy Cannon’s latest ruling. It’s absurd on its face and makes no attempt to suggest its anything other than absurd. It’s an assertion of power rather than judicial interpretation.

The Judge has now ordered a retired federal judge to review and recommend to her which highly classified documents should be covered by the executive privilege of a private citizen in Florida against the law enforcement and national security mandates of the President of the United States.

Judge Cannon further arrogates to herself the decision over what documents are actually classified. She won’t take the government’s word for which documents are or should be classified.

Notably the former President has made no legal claim that he declassified anything, though he did go on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show today to claim that he had “verbally declassified” the documents, saying, “... I have the absolute right to declassify, absolute -- a president has that absolute right, and a lot of people aren't even challenging that anymore."

Other than on Trump’s assertion - made outside of court - on what basis the documents would not or should not be classified or on what basis a trial court judge in Florida could determine this is quite unclear.

The DOJ needs to appeal all of this, as they have said they will.

Sadly, I think it is quite likely that such an appeal will reveal that the Trump-appointed appellate judges on the Eleventh Circuit or ultimately the majority of the Trump-appointed “justices” on the Supreme Court are as corrupt as Judge Cannon has demonstrated twice now that she is.

Normally, the DOJ would not move too quickly to appeal for fear of generating bad precedents.

This is now an outdated concept.

We need to know whether the federal courts will allow the law to apply to the man who put them where they are. Based on Judge Cannon, the answer appears to be no.

We shouldn’t be wasting our time if that is going to be confirmed up the line.

Find out where everyone stands. Then we can act accordingly.

Thanks to those who are supporting That’s Another Fine Mess by becoming paid subscribers. Comments are for paid subscribers.