Judge Aileen Cannon made headlines earlier this year when she dismissed charges of mishandling classified documents brought against former President Donald Trump by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

Yet according to one legal observer, some recently leaked information could result in her decision getting flipped. 

Report: Cannon being considered for attorney general

At issue is a report published by ABC News last week which cited a proposed personnel roster from Trump's campaign titled "Transition Planning: Legal Principals."

Included in its recommendations was that Cannon should be appointed as attorney general if the former president prevails in next week's election.

The circuit court must address Judge Aileen Cannon's place on presidential nominee Donald Trump's list of potential attorneys general. https://t.co/unrKgQZxtB

— Newsweek (@Newsweek) October 28, 2024

As Newsweek noted, the story drew comment from lawyer ​​Michael Popok during an appearance on the left-wing podcast "Legal AF."

Popok noted how Smith has appealed Cannon's ruling to the 11th Circuit, and he predicted that it will remove her from the case.

Popok: "Appearance of impropriety is overwhelming"

"The 11th circuit, in order to try to protect the integrity of the criminal justice system, and people's perception of the fairness of that system, have to do something about a problem named Aileen Cannon," Popok was quoted as saying.

"The 11th circuit's got to say: 'Aileen, you were asked by some of the senior lawyers, senior judges in your own district, not to take this case originally. You've got to go," he continued.

"The appearance of impropriety is overwhelming here," Popok insisted. "Even if she didn't make the decision to dismiss the indictment in order to curry favor with Donald Trump, it certainly looks to any rational human being like there was that quid pro quo. And so she's got to go."

The lawyer went on to declare that the 11th circuit now possesses "more than enough ammunition" to kick Cannon from Trump's case.

Law professor believes Supreme Court will side with Cannon

In deciding to dismiss Trump's charges, Cannon determined that Smith's appointment was unlawful because it violated the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.

Greg Germain is a law professor at Syracuse University in New York, and he told Newsweek that America's highest judicial body will agree with Cannon's reasoning.

"There is no way to know for sure what the Supreme Court will say, but given the Supreme Court's extremely broad view of separation of powers in the Trump immunity case, there is a good chance that the Court will agree with Judge Cannon that the broad unsupervised powers given to Jack Smith are unlawful and that the special counsel regulation is overbroad," Germain said.