Watchdog asks court to remove Judge Cannon from Mar-a-Lago case

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has asked the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to remove Judge Aileen Cannon from the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.

The Trump-appointed Cannon has presided over special counsel Jack Smith's case against former President Donald Trump related to his storage of materials at his Florida estate. Cannon dismissed the case in mid-July on constitutional grounds.

CREW specifically asked the 11th Circuit to assign the case to another judge in South Florida, The Hill reported. The group asserted that Cannon undertook “many efforts to undermine and derail the prosecution of this case.”

"Judge Cannon’s other extraordinary rulings and sluggish administration of the case had provoked well-founded concerns that she might be biased against the Government’s case and unable to manage that case impartially," CREW continued.

Smith has not independently asked for another judge to take up the case, but the 11th Circuit could reassign it anyway.

In late August, Smith asked the 11th Circuit to reinstate the case, though it has yet to rule on the matter.