The two cases that Special Counsel Jack Smith has brought against former President Donald Trump could be on the verge of being dismissed. 

This, according to the Washington Post, is because the judge overseeing the classified documents case - Judge Aileen Cannon - has decided to allow Trump's legal team to challenge the Biden administration's appointment of Smith as special counsel.

The argument is that Smith's appointment is illegitimate and, thus, he has no power to prosecute Trump.

The interesting bit is that Cannon only allowed Smith's special counsel status to be challenged after a member of the U.S. Supreme Court suggested that such a challenge would have merit.

Background

You, the reader, may remember that, back in April, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments about whether or not Trump ought to be immune from prosecution under the doctrine of presidential immunity. (On a side note, the justices are expected to make a ruling on this argument any day now, and, one way or another, it will impact Trump's ongoing cases.)

It was during those oral arguments, in April, that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas suggested that there may be a legitimate basis to question the Biden administration's appointment as special counsel. Thomas made this suggestion with a question that he posed to Trump's lawyer.

"Did you, in this litigation, challenge the appointment of special counsel?" Thomas asked.

In that litigation, Trump's lawyers did not, and it is likely that Thomas knew that, which raises the question - why exactly did Thomas ask Trump's lawyers if they had brought a legal challenge that he, Thomas, knew they did not?

The answer is unclear. Some argue that Thomas, here, was essentially trying to help Trump's legal team out by giving them a tip.

The latest

It was just this past week - a little over a month since Thomas asked that question - that Judge Cannon decided to allow Trump's legal team to argue that Smith's appointment by the Biden administration is illegitimate.

CNN reports, "Cannon is planning on holding a sprawling hearing on Trump’s request to declare Jack Smith’s appointment as special counsel invalid, signaling she could be more willing than any other trial judge to veto the special prosecutor’s authority."

The hearing is scheduled to take play during the week of June 21.

Why Cannon made this change is anyone's guess.

But, the bottom line, is that Smith's prosecutions of Trump would appear to be in jeopardy.