Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon could preside over ex-president’s arraignment in Miami

A federal judge who was appointed by former President Donald Trump — and has previously ruled in his favor- could preside over the former president’s arraignment in Miami on Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon was randomly assigned the case after being selected from a pool of four federal jurists in South Florida, the Miami Herald reported.

Cannon, 42, a former federal prosecutor was nominated to the bench by Trump in 2020 and confirmed by the Senate in November 2022.

“Ms. Cannon is a highly qualified individual, and I am confident that she will serve Florida’s Southern District honorably,” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said at the time offering his enthusiastic support.

Cannon has previously issued rulings favorable to Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified materials.

In September 2022, she granted the former president’s request to appoint a special master to review documents seized by the FBI during its raid on Mar-a-Lago.

In December of that year, a federal appeals court unanimously reversed her decision.

Cannon duly dismissed the special master idea in response to the appeals court ruling.

“I think you may have the appearance of impropriety and just the appearance alone should dictate that she recuse herself,” said Barry Covert, a longtime New York litigation attorney.

Cannon was originally born in Cali, Colombia, and is a graduate of Duke University and the University of Michigan law school and is a member of the Conservative Federalist Society.

Before moving into law, Cannon briefly pursued a career in journalism, writing articles for El Nuevo Herald, a Spanish-language daily.

Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz — who has represented Trump in the past — said it was much ado about nothing and that federal judges carried the presumption of impartiality.

“Once judges are confirmed they are supposed to be non-political and we will wait and see. I have no reason to believe that this judge will depart from her assigned role. The judge would either have to be somebody appointed by Trump or by a Democrat. It was a matter of randomness. I don’t see anything special about it,” Dershowitz said.