With some 70 days to go before the US elections and with a campaign that poses obstacles for him, the least Donald Trump could need today is to have his dirty laundry with the judiciary revived.

That is exactly what special prosecutor Jack Smith tried to do by filing a brief with the US 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on Monday in an attempt to revive the case against former President Donald Trump over classified documents.

With this formal filing since Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the criminal case last month, Smith argued that the judge’s decision to end the Trump case because the prosecution lacked constitutional authority was «novel» and «lacked merit».

As the Trump-appointed judge said at the time, the Justice Department had no power to appoint or fund special prosecutors like Smith.

Her team also warned that Cannon’s ruling affected not only other prosecutions of special prosecutors, several of which are ongoing in other courts, but also the power of those responsible for the entire federal government.

In an 81-page filing cited by CNN, Smith’s office noted that «if the Attorney General lacks the power to appoint inferior officials, that conclusion would invalidate the appointment of every member of the Department who exercises significant authority (…) other than the few who are specifically identified by statute».

«The district court’s reasoning would also raise questions about hundreds of appointments throughout the executive branch, including the Departments of Defense, State, Treasury, and Labor,» the prosecutors said.

Trump, the Republican Party’s current nominee for the 2024 election, was indicted last year on several federal charges associated with the mishandling of at least 300 secret documents removed by him from the White House at the end of his term in January 2021.

The trove of files was returned to the government in three deliveries, the last of which was a high-profile search by FBI agents of his luxury residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, in August 2022.

The charges against the tycoon – who pleaded not guilty – included, among other charges, obstruction of justice and violation of the Espionage Act.

The 11th Circuit is reviewing Cannon’s determinations that Smith’s appointment as special prosecutor was unconstitutional and that his office was illegally funded, the news network added.

In a statement quoted by the TV station, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said all charges against Trump in several states should be dismissed.

«As we move forward in Uniting Our Nation, not only should the dismissal of the Illegal Charge in Florida be affirmed, but it should immediately be coupled with a dismissal of the ENTIRE Witch Hunt,» Cheung emphasised.

Trump has racked up some 90 state and federal charges, four trials and millions of dollars in fines.

In New York in late May, he was found guilty of 34 felonies related to falsifying business records to cover up hush payments in 2016, during his first presidential campaign, to an adult film actress with whom he had an affair.

The criminal trial was the first in US history of a former president. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for 18 September.

His Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, who has surged in the polls and is running a campaign that is stirring enthusiasm in her electoral base, used this line of attack against Trump.

«I was a prosecutor; I know guys like him,» Harris said in one of her first speeches when she entered the race on 21 July.