DOJ defeats NYT suit seeking Jack Smith's Mar-a-Lago report on Trump, as judge wouldn't second-guess Cannon

Source: Law & Crime

Sep 4th, 2025, 8:03 pm


A federal judge on Thursday sided with the Department of Justice, dismissing The New York Times' Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, which sought the public disclosure of Volume II of former special counsel Jack Smith's report on his Mar-a-Lago case against President Donald Trump.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods, a Barack Obama appointee sitting on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, explained that he would not second-guess U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon's jurisdiction in issuing a permanent injunction and, therefore, the Times' FOIA case was doomed.

"Because the Court declines to hold that Judge Cannon lacked jurisdiction to issue her injunction, the Court finds that the DOJ is not improperly withholding Volume II of the Special Counsel's report," wrote Woods. "The DOJ's motion to dismiss in this action is therefore GRANTED."

In July, the DOJ argued that the Times' suit should fail precisely because Cannon's injunction was still in place. The Times' lawyers had claimed that the injunction was a legal "nullity" which Cannon had no jurisdiction to issue.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/doj-defeats-nyt-lawsuit-seeking-release-of-jack-smiths-mar-a-lago-report-because-judge-wouldnt-second-guess-cannon/