A look at the secluded judge managing Trump's case involving his records, as described by past witnesses in her court.
"There's a lot of loneliness in Fort Pierce, a small fishing and citrus town at the southern edge of Florida," said Senior Judge Paul C. Huck, who shared these thoughts with CNN. "It's a quiet place, and the courthouse is no different."
This quiet environment is what drew Huck to be part of the March 2022 trial in Fort Pierce, not because Cannon required his assistance, but as a volunteer to help out in courts around the state.
"I thought I'd go spend some time with Cannon and get to know her better," he recalled. "I remembered her as very smart and very personable."
Fast forward to the present day, and Cannon is now at the center of one of the most prominent and intricate cases in the nation: the criminal prosecution of former President Donald Trump for his handling of classified information. And her lifestyle is now under scrutiny due to her unique management style in this case.
Ever since Trump was indicted a year ago, Cannon has stretched out the legal proceedings. These delays have confused legal scholars and put a trial that was initially scheduled to commence last month on hold indefinitely.
Several attorneys who have practiced before Cannon revealed to CNN why they believe she's acting this way. The isolation of Cannon's post in the Fort Pierce courthouse, which lacks high-profile activity, deprives her of daily, informal guidance from seasoned judges who sit in other courts, they explained.
They also expressed concerns about Cannon's inexperience. In the seven years Cannon spent as a Justice Department lawyer, she was involved in just four criminal trials. On the bench, she's only conducted a handful of criminal trials, with one of them being led by Huck.
For this article, CNN talked to ten lawyers who have cases before Cannon while remaining anonymous due to the profession's and ethical risks of speaking about her publicly. They reflected on Cannon's conduct, stating her isolation could be the reason behind her indecisiveness.
To confirm their opinions of Cannon's style, CNN analyzed the public case records for dozens of cases that traversed her courtroom.
The lawyers described Cannon as meticulous, well-prepared, and a difficult inquisitor, with all five senses active for every detail. However, some of her quirks have raised eyebrows in the Trump case, including her preoccupation with technical faults in filings and her slow resolution of pretrial arguments.
"She's not efficient. It's all form over substance," said one Florida-based lawyer.
Another attorney described her approach as "indecisive."
A third attorney who's had cases in front of Cannon shared, "She just seems overwhelmed."
In September 2022, Huck visited Cannon in Fort Pierce, leading to her appointment a few months later to oversee the Trump case. Her slow and diligent approach, which is well-suited for appellate work, is turning out to be a double-edged sword in this trial, attracting criticism for her management of the pretrial phases.
The case has seen several delays, some deliberate by the Trump defense team and some due to Cannon's habits, which have aggravated the backlog of matters awaiting resolution in Cannon's court. Cannon remains undecided on critical questions that will determine whether the Trump case proceeds. She is also scheduled to hear a motion questioning the validity of Jack Smith's appointment as special counsel later this month.
"It's far from predictable how she'll handle this enormous case," said one of the attorneys. "But everything she's exhibiting is recognizable from her smaller, routine cases."
As Cannon diligently works through the immense pile of cases on her desk, special counsel prosecutors are experiencing firsthand the fury that can be unleashed upon them by the judge for what seem like insignificant mistakes in their submissions. This has led to Cannon's frustration with the prosecutors for delaying the resolution of crucial pretrial issues, resulting in a slow pace in the trial.
One lawyer who practices before Cannon expressed, "You can't really argue with her or it'll backfire on you."
Trump's lawyers have also faced the ire of Cannon, though less frequently than the special counsel. This is because the judge has a reputation for being challenging towards defendants and is known for being a harsh sentencer.
The attorneys who spoke with CNN characterized Cannon as a judge with little tolerance for defendants, and someone who's "notoriously tough" on sentencing. Her leniency towards Trump's team in the pretrial phase of the case has, however, baffled them.
"She's certainly not sympathetic to most defendants, and she's playing a different game with the current defendant before her," another attorney mentioned, referring to Trump.
Taking everything under heavy scrutiny
Not all attorneys who spoke to CNN shared the same negative view about Cannon. Some praised her for asking insightful questions during hearings that showed she had conducted thorough research and kept their cases progressing at a reasonable pace.
Former courtroom participants frequently agreed that Cannon's judicial style revolved around deeply examining every single claim made in her courtroom, regardless of the party making it.
"She doesn't like it when anyone expects her to take something at face value," one attorney explained.
Many shared her dismissing joint motions, such as sentencing recommendations or requests to postpone hearings, even if there was consensus between the parties.
"You can't presume that, just because there's no disagreement between the parties, she'll just go along with it," an attorney added, describing Cannon as an "extremely hands-on" judge who relishes being the ultimate decider.
Criminal defense attorneys who practice before Cannon applauded her for not cheerfully accepting the claims made by prosecutors, breaking the common stereotype of judges always favoring the government.
"She hates when the government tries to pull rank and force their will," one attorney remarked.
In the Trump case, Cannon has insisted on Smith's attorneys justifying their arguments and demanding extreme precision in whatever they request of her. This has particularly focused on meticulous procedural practices like filing rules.
Last month, her scrutiny of these procedural guidelines caused her to reject a motion Smith submitted in response to Trump wrongly asserting that the FBI wanted to assassinate him during the Mar-a-Lago search. Cannon objected because the prosecutors hadn't provided the opposing side with ample notice of the request.
On other instances in the Trump case, she has spurned even standard documents for minor technicalities. This is drawn from her commitment to ensuring that meticulous compliance with procedural rules.
Several court dockets reviewed by CNN exhibited similar occurrences, including at least two examples where Cannon declined motions for similar reasons.
A lawyer who spoke to CNN characterized her approach to procedural regulations as, "I decide how it's going to be, and if you don't like it, that's a problem."
Lawyers outside of Florida pointed out that she is not the only judge on the federal bench who doesn't tolerate even the most minor errors in procedural matters, though some did express that her obsession with detailing can be counterproductive.
In the Trump case, it took nearly three months for numerous significant pretrial motions to even be recorded after the complicated process of adjudicating what should be redacted in public filings. Seven of those petitions, requiring the dismissal of parts of the case, remain unsettled, while only a few have been scheduled for oral arguments.
And Cannon continues to handle all the other cases in the Fort Pierce division as she navigates the Trump case.
"The woman appears to latch onto ideas that catch her interest, regardless of their connection to the current case at hand - or deem them significant for reasons unclear to others in the courtroom," commented one lawyer.
What sets Cannon apart from her fellow judges in the south Florida federal court, who were all selected under the Biden, Trump and Obama administrations, is her lack of experience in trial cases before her appointment. These judges either had significant trial experience as state court judges or tried multiple cases as lawyers prior to being named to the federal bench. Her inexperience has sparked concerns among attorneys, with some fearing her decisions might make it more likely that their cases would be appealed.
One lawyer shared with CNN that when he has a case assigned to Cannon, he asks the other party if they would be okay with allowing the case to be handled by a magistrate judge. These judges don't have the same powers as US district judges, but are capable of handling certain types of proceedings.
Nonetheless, nearly every lawyer CNN interviewed had the same opinion about Cannon: "She's firm in her beliefs about how each case in her courtroom should progress."
Read also:
- The lawyers who have practiced before Judge Cannon in Fort Pierce expressed concerns about her inexperience in handling complex cases, such as the Trump case, due to her limited experience in conducting criminal trials.
- Despite the isolation of her post in the Fort Pierce courthouse, Judge Cannon is known for her meticulous and thorough examination of every claim made in her courtroom, often rejecting joint motions even if there is consensus between the parties.
