The ruling was issued by the circuit court's Chief Judge William Pryor, a George W. Bush appointee, and two of Trump's own appeals court picks. The records were being used in a criminal investigation into the retention of national security information, theft of government records and obstruction of justice.
It is possible for Trump to appeal the ruling to the full bench of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court.
The federal investigation is a weaponization of the justice system according to Trump. The appeals judges decided that the special master process wasn't necessary because Trump's attorneys didn't show that law enforcement acted with "callous disregard" for his rights.
The panel said that Trump wanted to give a special treatment to former presidents that other people wouldn't get. The judges said that special treatment was not justified.
They said it was extraordinary for a warrant to be executed at the home of a former president, but not in a way that affects our legal analysis.
The Mar-a-Lago investigation is likely to be put under court supervision by the ruling.
Just two weeks ago, Attorney General Garland appointed a former head of the Justice Department's public corruption section to serve as a special counsel overseeing the Mar-a-Lago probe and an investigation into alleged efforts by Trump.
Cannon was tapped to serve as special master in the case after the appeals court ruled against the district court judge. Dearie has been working hard to get the records reviewed and to resolve the disputes between the Justice Department and Trump before the end of the year.
The presidential records act does not allow the Justice Department to use a civil-suit mechanism to seize records. The records were converted from official to personal property by the former president, according to his lawyers.
Other legal options don't affect the ability to seize evidence with the court's approval as part of a criminal investigation. They said that doctrine has no relevance when records are sought by the executive branch.
Cannon was seen by the appeals court panel as taking unprecedented steps to help Trump.
The district court stepped in with its own reasoning on multiple occasions to land on the side of Trump.
The FBI was allowed to seize Trump's records pursuant to a lawful search warrant, even though he tried to argue that his records were not presidential.
There is no harm to be done in the first place if there has been no violation of the constitution.
Cannon was criticized by a broad spectrum of the legal community.
Liberal lawyers and defense attorneys said that such oversight is rarely imposed when targets of criminal investigations seek it. Conservative attorneys who back strict separation-of-powers principles complained that the process Cannon ordered intruded on the executive branch's right to pursue its investigation.
Prosecutors won an earlier round of the legal fight at the 11th Circuit two months ago, when a three-judge panel unanimously agreed to a stay that carved out from the special master process about 100 documents with classification markings.
The ruling restored the government's ability to investigate the national security implications of highly-sensitive documents being in unsecure spaces at Mar-a-Lago, which functions as Trump's home.
Grant and Brasher were on the panel that granted the emergency stay request. The broader case signaled that Trump was going to have a hard time winning.
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