U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon just did something that sent the usual outrage machine into overdrive. She permanently blocked the Justice Department from releasing special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on President Trump’s handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. And judging by the reaction from the political left, you would think she personally shredded the Constitution on the courthouse steps.
In a sharply worded 15 page ruling, Cannon accused Smith of a “brazen stratagem,” saying he kept preparing his classified documents report even after she ruled in July 2024 that his appointment was unconstitutional and dismissed the case against President Trump and his two co-defendants. She pointed out that Smith and his team continued for months, using discovery materials and expending taxpayer dollars, despite her dismissal order. Cannon wrote that this timeline represented, at a minimum, “a concerning breach of the spirit of the Dismissal Order,” if not an outright violation.
That is not exactly subtle judicial language.
Cannon also made it clear that releasing the report now would “contravene basic notions of fairness and justice” and amount to a “manifest injustice,” especially since the case never reached a jury. No conviction. No plea. No trial. Just charges that were ultimately dismissed. She further warned that publication could expose attorney client privileged information and grand jury material, both of which are protected for very good reasons.
She even noted that while former special counsels have released reports in the past, those situations involved either decisions not to bring charges or actual findings of guilt. She wrote that the court “strains to find a situation” where a special counsel released a report after filing charges that did not result in a finding of guilt. That is a polite way of saying, this is not how it is supposed to work.
The United States Department of Justice initially appealed Cannon’s dismissal. Then President Trump won the election. After he was sworn in to his second term, the department reversed course and argued the report should not be made public. That position aligned with President Trump’s legal team and his former co-defendants, Carlos de Oliveira and Walt Nauta.
Cannon emphasized that all parties agreed the report should remain under wraps. Still, outside groups like American Oversight and the Knight First Amendment Institute tried to intervene in the dismissed case to force disclosure. Cannon denied their request, and their appeal is now pending before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Unless that court overturns her ruling, the decision effectively blocks additional efforts to obtain the report through Freedom of Information Act requests. Media outlets and activist organizations that were hoping for a dramatic document dump are now out of luck.
Of course, Cannon’s critics immediately pointed out that she is a Trump appointee. She has faced constant attacks for decisions seen as favorable to President Trump, including appointing an independent reviewer to examine materials seized from Mar-a-Lago. She ultimately dismissed the case the same day President Trump was formally nominated at the Republican National Convention, just one week after an assassination attempt that nearly killed him.
Smith’s final report was split into two volumes. The first, focused on President Trump’s actions after the 2020 election, was released publicly in January 2025, days before Joe Biden left office. Before returning to the White House, President Trump asked Cannon to block both volumes. She ruled at the time that she lacked authority over the separate election related investigation.
The bottom line is simple. You do not get to file charges, lose the case, and then publish a taxpayer funded narrative as a consolation prize. That is not justice, that is politics dressed up in legal language. Cannon’s ruling reinforces the idea that due process actually matters, even when the defendant’s name is Trump. And for some people in Washington, that is apparently the real problem.
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