Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge in the Southern District of Florida presiding over the former president's classified documents case, made two critical errors in a June trial, Reuters reports, citing legal experts and a court transcript, with one of her missteps violating a fundamental constitutional right of the defendant, which could have invalidated the proceedings.
Cannon closed the courtroom during jury selection for the June trial of an Alabama man, whom federal prosecutors accused of running a website with images of child sex abuse, to the defendant's family and the general public, according to a trial transcript obtained by the outlet. Though Cannon cited space restrictions in her small courtroom in the Fort Pierce federal courthouse, the Sixth Amendment guarantees a defendant's right to a public trial.
