Special counsel Jack Smith plans to appeal the decision by Florida federal Judge Aileen Cannon to dismiss the classified documents case against former US President Donald Trump, NBC News reported on Monday.
A spokesman for Smith said the Department of Justice had authorized the special counsel to appeal Cannon’s decision.
“The dismissal of the case deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue that the Attorney General is statutorily authorized to appoint a Special Counsel,” said Smith’s spokesman Peter Carr, according to NBC News.
Judge Cannon had ruled earlier that the appointment of Smith as prosecutor for the case violated the appointments clause of the US Constitution.
Trump has been accused of illegally keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida after he left office.
The former President faced 37 counts in the case, including 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information.