Fresh off having seen her rulings in the Trump classified documents case thoroughly dismantled by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Aileen Cannon -- given a lifetime appointment to the federal bench by the former president -- will now be another case involving a GOP lawmaker facing a massive fine for election fraud.
According to a report from Dan Christensen of Florida Bulldog, the controversial Cannon will rule on an appeal by former Rep. David Rivera (R-FL) that a $465,000 fine resulting from a Federal Election Commission lawsuit involving election fraud was excessive.
With regard to previous Cannon rulings, MSNBC legal analyst Harry Litman stated back in September, "We have people who looked at these other opinions by Judge Cannon, trying to explain that these were not in some subtle way arguably right. They were completely off the reservation."
As Florida Bulldog's Christensen wrote, the latest case before Cannon is a "politically charged" one.
"Last March, [the late Miami federal judge Marcia] Cooke ordered Rivera to pay a $456,000 civil penalty after a Federal Election Commission lawsuit established significant wrongdoing by the one-term Miami congressman. That included his working 'secretly' to finance the primary campaign of another in an attempt to 'trick voters' and 'weaken' his likely 2012 general election opponent, Democrat Joe Garcia," the report states before adding Rivera lucked into his appeal being reviewed by Cannon.
Christensen added, "Cannon, a member of the conservative Federalist Society based in Fort Pierce, will now reconsider Cooke’s decision. And given what proved to be her botched and embarrassing performance in overseeing the Trump documents case, questions are likely to arise about her ability to impartially handle another politically charged case."
According to the report, scrutiny of Rivera's case is heightened by some of his accompanying legal problems.
"Developments in Rivera’s pending criminal case may also bring added attention to the civil enforcement matter. Rivera was arrested Dec. 5, 2022 at Atlanta’s airport following his Nov. 16, indictment by a Miami federal grand jury on charges of money laundering and representing a foreign government – Venezuela – without registering," Christensen reported. "Both Rivera and co-defendant Esther Nuhfer were released after surrendering their passports and posting $200,000 bonds. But both have yet to obtain permanent counsel or be arraigned and enter pleas to the government’s charges. On Friday, Miami U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman ordered them both to appear before him Tuesday for arraignment."
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