The critics of U.S. district court judge Aileen Cannon – and by critics I mean those simply unable to abide that she has issued some rulings which benefit former President Donald Trump in her classified documents case — seem to have been quite busy. They’re so busy, that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has said “No mas!”
On May 22, the appellate court issued an order in response to the avalanche of complaints that it has been receiving. In his order, Chief Justice William Pryor states that several complaints had been filed against Judge Cannon before May 16th. Some of these have already been addressed or “will be addressed in due time.” The order does not specify the nature of these complaints or any possible action that may be taken.
Since May 16, “the Clerk of United States Court of Appeals of the Eleventh Circuit received over 1,000 judicial complaints against Judge Cannon, which raises allegations that are substantially the same as those raised in previous complaints.” Pryor explained in his order that some of the relief requested in the complaints included the removal of Cannon and the reassignment of the case to another judge. However, neither Pryor or the Judicial Council has the authority to make this decision.
The court also noted that the complaints appeared to be part of a coordinated campaign and as such will be dealt with under Judicial-Conduct Rule 10.b, which provides:
Orchestrated Complaints. If a number of complaints are filed that appear to be orchestrated and resemble a campaign, the chief judge may recommend to the Judicial council to issue an order to the circuit clerk instructing him to only accept a limited number of these complaints and refuse to accept any more. Circuit clerks must provide a copy of such an order to any complainant whose complaint has not been accepted.
Pryor, citing the volume of complaints received, deemed this situation to be exceptional. He ordered the clerk instead to post the order on the website as opposed to sending a copy to every complainant.
Pryor notes that four complaints received since the 16th of May have been reviewed and dismissed due to a lack of evidence.
This does not mean no additional complaints will ever be considered. However, complaints that are identical to those previously filed will not. If you want your complaint to be considered and taken seriously, then make sure that you have all the necessary receipts. If one does not, they may face their own set consequences.
Nothing Judge Cannon has done is judicial misconduct.
Falsely accusing a judge of misconduct & encouraging others to do so IS misconduct by a lawyer, however, in most jurisdictions. https://t.co/1XkamM2Euf
— Leslie McAdoo Gordon 🇺🇸 (@McAdooGordon) May 12, 2024
