Legal pundits have had another day to digest Monday’s confounding
opinion from Judge Aileen Cannon.

Recall that the 41-year-old Trump appointee (who was confirmed in the
days after the 2020 election) granted the former president’s request to
appoint a special master to review the documents taken from Mar-a-Lago,
and enjoined the Department of Justice “from reviewing and using the
seized materials for investigative purposes.” She ordered the Office of
the Director of National Intelligence to continue its damage assessment
review of the documents.  

Lawyers are, by definition, a quarrelsome bunch, and members of the
pundit bar are especially quick to second-guess any opinions that aren’t
theirs. But they are also as ideologically divided as the rest of the
country. So it’s notable that while Cannon has had little trouble
finding political support for her decision, she has been largely alone
when it comes to support for her legal arguments.

And Senate Republicans tried to tamp down the burgeoning feud between
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and NRSC Chair Rick Scott (Fla.) over
campaign strategy at a Tuesday meeting, Burgess Everett and Marianne
LeVine report. “Republican senators said after the meeting that there
was little talk inside McConnell’s leadership suite of a split between
Scott and the GOP leader. Still, the divide hung over the Senate’s
return like Washington’s steamy early September weather.”

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