Cannon last summer concluded in a 93-page ruling that Smith’s appointment violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution and, in turn, she dismissed the federal criminal case against Trump charging him with amassing highly sensitive national security secrets at Mar-a-Lago and then obstructing government efforts to reclaim them.

The Trump administration appeared to use legal loopholes to keep Habba in the role—which are already being used by criminal defendants to get them out of their indictment.

In a span of eight days, Alina Habba was accused of violating the Hatch Act; removed as interim U.S. attorney by district court judges and replaced with a career prosecutor who was quickly fired by the Trump administration; and then named acting U.S. attorney.