How Clarence Thomas laid groundwork for Trump's classified documents case being dismissed

A federal judge's controversial move to throw out the charges against former President Donald Trump in his long-running classified documents case on Monday may have been inspired by a legal aside by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas two weeks earlier.

On July 1, Thomas joined the high court's conservative majority in dramatically expanding the scope of presidential immunity for crimes committed in office. But he also, in his separate, concurring opinion, lit the fuse on U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon's Monday bombshell.

Thomas, the court's longest-serving justice, suggested that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith − who is prosecuting both the classified documents case and a separate election interference case − was unconstitutional.

This previously marginal notion, that special counsels − used for decades by administrations from both parties − are illegitimate without specific legislation or Senate confirmation, had been raised by Trump in Cannon' Florida courtroom.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/clarence-thomas-laid-groundwork-trumps-090446753.html