In a significant development, a Florida judge overseeing the trial regarding Donald Trump's handling and retention of classified documents has dismissed the case against the former president. The dismissal came on Monday, coinciding with the first day of the Republican National Convention and following an assassination attempt on Trump over the weekend.

The dismissal was based on the grounds that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith was illegal, as ruled by Judge Cannon. Attorney General Merrick Garland had appointed Smith in November 2022 to oversee federal investigations into Trump's actions regarding classified documents and his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

Trump's legal team had argued that the appointment of a private citizen, without Senate confirmation, to wield prosecutorial power was not permitted by the Constitution. They contended that Smith lacked the authority to prosecute the case. However, the special counsel's team argued that the attorney general had statutory authority to appoint "inferior officers" like Smith, citing previous court decisions.

Judge Cannon sided with Trump's legal team and found Smith's appointment to be improper. She stated that since November 2022, Smith had been exercising power that he did not lawfully possess, rendering all actions stemming from his defective appointment unlawful exercises of executive power.

It is worth mentioning that similar arguments raised against previous special counsels, including Robert Mueller and David Weiss, were unsuccessful. The impact of Cannon's ruling on cases such as the one involving Hunter Biden, overseen by Weiss, remains unclear.

Smith will have the opportunity to appeal the dismissal to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. However, even if the ruling were to be overturned, it is unlikely that the classified documents case would go to trial before the election due to the delay caused by Cannon's decision.

Importantly, the dismissal of this case does not have an immediate impact on the federal election interference case against Trump. The only courts with the power to direct Judge Tanya Chutkan, who presides over that case, are the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.

Trump was initially charged in June of last year, with the indictment accusing him of lying and scheming to mislead federal investigators in order to retain sensitive classified materials after leaving the White House. Subsequently, a search warrant executed at Trump's Florida estate uncovered over 100 classified documents, leading to additional charges of obstruction.

Judge Cannon's involvement in the case dates back to 2022 when she temporarily halted the FBI's review of recovered documents and granted Trump's request for a special master to examine the evidence. However, her rulings have faced criticism for their meandering approach to the case, with postponed trial dates and attempts to carve out exceptions for former presidents.

This dismissal follows the recent Supreme Court decision granting Trump immunity for certain actions as president in the federal election interference case. Judge Chutkan will now need to determine which of Trump's actions were official presidential acts before the case can proceed to trial, making it impossible for the trial to commence before the election.

The impact of Cannon's ruling may extend to Trump's state election interference case in Georgia, although that case has been stayed pending a decision on the disqualification of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Trump's sentencing in a separate case in New York, where he was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records, has also been postponed due to the immunity ruling. Trump's attorneys argue that the conviction should be overturned based on the same grounds.

Justice Clarence Thomas's concurrence in the Supreme Court decision, which raised concerns about the appointment of special counsel Smith, was mentioned in Cannon's ruling. Trump's legal team had highlighted Thomas's opinion, claiming it supported their arguments regarding the Appointments and Appropriations Clauses.

As of now, the Department of Justice, the special counsel's office, and the Trump campaign have not responded to requests for comment regarding the dismissal of the classified documents case against Trump.