The legal brilliance of Justice Thomas was evident when he absolutely nailed the fatal flaw in the Biden administration’s lawfare appointment of Jack Smith as special counsel in his opinion on the scope of presidential immunity.

“A private citizen cannot criminally prosecute anyone,” he wrote, “let alone a former president.”

Soon thereafter, Judge Aileen Cannon, on very solid constitutional legal grounds, dismissed the criminal classified documents case against former President Trump.

Even AP, not Trump-friendly, captured the dramatic turn of events like this:

Defense lawyers filed multiple challenges to the case, including legally technical ones that asserted that special counsel Jack Smith’s appointment by Attorney General Merrick Garland violated the Constitution’s Appointments Clause because it did not go through Congress and that Smith’s office was improperly funded by the Justice Department.

Cannon agreed, writing Monday that Garland had exceeded his bounds by appointing a prosecutor without Senate approval and confirmation and had undermined the authority of Congress.

‘The Special Counsel’s position effectively usurps that important legislative authority, transferring it to a Head of Department, and in the process threatening the structural liberty inherent in the separation of powers,’ Cannon wrote….

Of course the normal flow of justice is to appeal a ruling and that process was put in motion by the Justice Department:

Special Counsel Jack Smith may be able to reverse Judge Aileen Cannon's dismissal of Donald Trump's classified documents case, legal experts have told Newsweek.

Not being a lawyer, I will enjoy the public sturm und drang of attorneys with certified Trump Derangement Syndrome who will try to capture headlines to litigate overturning Judge’s Cannon’s ruling in public.

However one does not need to have a law degree to read criminal statutes.

With the ruling, the title still being used is “Special Counsel Smith” when it should be Citizen Smith. Since his appointment has been ruled illegitimate, he cannot have that title, and it is only fair he reverts to Attorney Jack Smith, or simply Citizen Smith.

Once the speculative appeals process is now beginning I have a simple question: How does a private citizen appeal? That answer is as we would say, way above my pay grade.

If Judge Cannon’s ruling stands, both Attorney General Garland and Citizen Smith are in, as we used to say in the Marines, a world of hurt.

If it is determined that everything Citizen Smith did was unconstitutional, then the inevitable civil lawsuits by those he legally terrorized might be horrendously costly for him personally; the U.S. government would also be of interest.

The problem for Garland is even more legally perilous. It is called a violation of the Antideficiency Act:

This act prohibits federal agencies from obligating or expending federal funds in advance or in excess of an appropriation, and from accepting voluntary services.

The Antideficiency Act prohibits federal employees from … involving the government in any obligation to pay money before funds have been appropriated for that purpose, unless otherwise allowed by law. 31 U.S.C. § 1341(a)(1)(B).

…

Federal employees who violate the Antideficiency Act are subject to two types of sanctions: administrative and penal. Employees may be subject to appropriate administrative discipline including, when circumstances warrant, suspension from duty without pay or removal from office. In addition, employees may also be subject to fines, imprisonment, or both.

Since the Attorney General of the United States, our chief law enforcement officer, was found by a judge to have “improperly funded” this horrific lawfare effort, good luck with pleading the old dodge, “I had no criminal intent.” As often quoted—ignorance of the law is no excuse.

With respect to the very nasty damage done to innocent Americans by Citizen Jack Smith—I will take lyrics from a very popular song in the Sixties, “You’re a very strange man, aren’t you, Master Jack?”

Ed Timperlake was the Senate-confirmed first Assistant Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs; first for Congressional and Public Affairs and then Public and Intergovernmental Affairs.

Image: Andrea Widburg.