President Trump secured another victory in his federal classified documents case on Saturday, as Judge Cannon granted a delay requested by his attorneys. This follows the Supreme Court’s significant decision last month to grant presidential immunity for official acts taken while in office.
Judge Cannon issued a temporary stay on the July 8 deadline for expert disclosures and the July 10 deadline for the defense to provide information to prosecutors. She also set a new deadline of July 21 for both parties to submit briefs on the relevance of presidential immunity to the case.
This decision comes after the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling on Trump’s immunity claim, which stated that presidents generally enjoy absolute immunity from charges related to official acts under their core constitutional powers, and presumptive immunity for other acts taken while in office.
Following this ruling, Trump’s attorneys requested additional time on Friday to file briefings on how the immunity decision could impact the documents case. They also sought to pause pretrial activities until the immunity issue is resolved, arguing that a resolution is necessary to minimize the negative effects on the presidency from what they called an unconstitutional investigation and prosecution.
In May, Judge Cannon had already extended indefinitely a key deadline for the defense to disclose which classified materials it would use at trial, after Trump’s legal team accused DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith of mishandling evidence by moving certain classified documents out of order.
