American Oversight Applauds Eleventh Circuit for Pressing Judge Cannon to Address Delay in Special Counsel Report Case

Today, in responding to our mandamus petition asking the court to vacate Judge Aileen Cannon’s gag order that has indefinitely barred the Department of Justice (DOJ) from releasing Volume II of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on President Trump’s mishandling of classified documents, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit found that the judge’s failure to rule on our motions — which had been fully briefed since March — constituted an “undue delay,” and gave Judge Cannon 60 days to fully resolve the issues before the Court takes further action.

“We applaud the Eleventh Circuit for calling out Judge Cannon’s needless delay and pressing for long-overdue action on the release of Special Counsel Smith’s report,” said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight. “As the Trump administration targets its perceived political enemies over alleged mishandling of classified documents, today’s order is an important step toward increased transparency and accountability for the president’s own conduct. If the very actions he condemns in others mirror what he did before leaving office, the public has a right to know. Transparency delayed is accountability denied. The continued secrecy around this report serves only to protect those in power, not the public interest.”

We filed our mandamus petition after repeated efforts to obtain judicial action on its motions to lift Judge Cannon’s Jan. 21, order preventing the public from accessing Volume II of Special Counsel Smith’s report on Trump’s mishandling of classified documents, which would ordinarily be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), pursuant to applicable exemptions. Although all appeals in the criminal case were dismissed nearly a year ago, the injunction remains in effect, blocking the release of information.

In February, Judge Cannon rejected our request to expedite a motion to lift her gag order barring release of Smith’s report into President Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents. The request to expedite the motion was sought because the report is expected to contain information about whether Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel misled the public in claiming Trump declassified documents before leaving office. At the time of the motion, Patel’s confirmation vote in the U.S. Senate was imminent.

Judge Cannon’s ruling followed multiple attempts by American Oversight to seek release of Volume II of the report. On Feb. 10, we filed a FOIA lawsuit and motion for preliminary injunction against the DOJ, demanding the release of the report after the agency’s failure to respond to the FOIA request. In its opposition to that motion, the DOJ relied on Judge Cannon’s gag order.