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Hey, insiders, Ellie Honig here. Before we get to this very special Tuesday note, we have some exciting news.

Starting now, we're making some changes to this feed. It's going to be called the Council.

You will continue to hear from me on Fridays, like it or not, and on Wednesdays we'll be publishing

notes from my fellow cafe contributors, Joyce Vance, Barb McQuaid, Asherangappa, and Rachel

Barko. The goal is to bring you more news analysis at the intersection of law and politics each week.

If you haven't already, follow this podcast to get every episode. And as always, write to us

with any questions and comments at letters at cafe.com. And now on to this week's note.

One of the four criminal cases against Donald Trump has officially bitten the dust,

for the moment at least. Judge Eileen Cannon yesterday issued a surprising but not quite

shocking ruling, dismissing DOJ special counsel Jack Smith's indictment of

Trump for retaining classified documents of Mar-a-Lago and obstruction of justice.

While it's become trendy to impugn Judge Cannon's intelligence, integrity, and motives,

anyone who declares that her ruling was definitively right or wrong is just guessing at this point. We'll find out

eventually, and the appeals courts might well eventually reverse Judge Cannon, but the ruling,

while drastic in its impact, is not facially preposterous. It's important to establish up front

that the dismissal has nothing to do with the merits of the Mar-a-Lago indictment.

...