It should be anathema to mention that a judge was “Trump-appointed” and yet legal experts across the spectrum are using words like “pandering” to explain a judicial order about “intending” to appoint a special master to analyze Trump’s motion to examine the materials taken from Mar-a-Lago to be covered by executive privilege. One never wants to believe that a judge is being nakedly political, but there is precious little else to explain why a judge would issue an “intention” (Judges either order or deny an order, they don’t issue things that they “intend” to order), especially when the judge did not allow DOJ to even respond to Trump’s motion.

According to the New York Times:

A federal judge in Florida gave notice on Saturday of her “preliminary intent” to appoint an independent arbiter, known as a special master, to conduct a review of the highly sensitive documents that were seized by the F.B.I. this month during a search of Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald J. Trump’s club and residence in Palm Beach.

In an unusual action that fell short of a formal order, the judge, Aileen M. Cannon of the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida, signaled that she was inclined to agree with the former president and his lawyers that a special master should be appointed to review the seized documents.

Again, “preliminary intent” is not really a “thing,” except for perhaps some cases in family court where a judge is desperately looking for more information. Judges don’t issue rulings regarding “preliminary intent’ that are set to be heard in oral argument on Thursday:

But Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Mr. Trump in 2020, set a hearing for arguments in the matter for Thursday in the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach — not the one in Fort Pierce, Fla., where she typically works.

Again, something isn’t right and legal experts across the country have had no trouble picking apart a highly problematic order that could interfere with an ongoing investigation that is of the utmost importance:

According to former prosecutor Glenn Kirschner:

“Before I read this one sentence, Michael, mind you, that she entered this tentative border before the Department of Justice prosecutors even had an opportunity to weigh in on the issue. she said quote, ‘The court hereby provides notice of its preliminary intent to appoint a special master in this case.’ And she has only heard from Trump’s defense team,’

“I think this indicates a judge who has extraordinarily poor judgment at best, and at worse is biased in favor of Donald Trump, As a footnote, I think it is worth mentioning that she was confirmed by the Senate, Mitch McConnell’s Senate after Donald Trump lost the presidential election.”

Former federal prosecutor Cynthia Alksne went further:

“Pandering, I think that is the legal term for this garbage.”

There were certainly plenty of others: