Donald Trump’s favorite judge is suddenly losing law clerks.
Judge Aileen Cannon has been moving alarmingly slowly in setting up a trial date for Donald Trump’s classified documents criminal case—but it may not be a bid to help out the man who appointed her.
As of Thursday, the Florida judge had lost at least two law clerks in the last six months, who up and quit on her rather than finish out their one-year terms, according to several sources within Cannon’s legal circuit that spoke with attorney David Lat.
The rarity of multiple clerks leaving their posts can’t be understated, especially considering that judges typically hire just two or three clerks per annum. As Lat notes in his Substack Original Jurisdiction, “a law clerk’s role is substantive, not clerical or administrative.” Clerks are more like a judge’s right and left hands—they help the judiciary conduct research, prepare for trials, and draft opinions. Clerkships are highly competitive, and one serving a federal judge would otherwise be considered résumé gold, so it’s certainly curious that they seem to be fleeing her bench.
Only way to remove her is impeachment. That will never fly as Republican fascists only care about the power she gives and not the Constitution or law.
If Democrats had any spine, they’d at least expand the size of the federal bench (at least double, maybe even double again) and dilute her influence. Federal judges have too big of a caseload already, and the size hasn’t expanded with the population for a while, so there are good non-political reasons for doing this.