Jack Smith's Mar-a-Lago appeal brief imminent

Left: Special Counsel Jack Smith (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File). Center: Aileen M. Cannon speaks remotely during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing (US Senate). Right: Donald Trump speaks to supporters in Des Moines, Iowa (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File).

The special counsel's office will soon have its first chance to convince a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit that the judge in former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago case wrongly dismissed the charges on the grounds that Jack Smith was improperly appointed.

The deadline for the government to file its opening brief, set last month on Tuesday, August 27, is fast approaching. Although there was some sentiment that Smith might consider filing the brief well before the deadline to potentially expedite the case, no brief had been filed on the East Coast as of Monday afternoon.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, whose ruling had previously been significantly overruled by the 11th Circuit, dismissed the secret documents case in mid-July after “careful review” with reference to the Appointments Clause – just weeks after Judge Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion questioning the authority of the special counsel in the Trump v. United States immunity case before the Supreme Court.