Washington DC - Special counsel Jack Smith filed an appeal on Wednesday of a federal judge's dismissal of the criminal case charging former president Donald Trump with mishandling top secret documents.

Smith appealed District Court Judge Aileen Cannon's ruling to the Atlanta-based US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Cannon, in a surprise decision on Monday, dismissed the documents case on the grounds that Smith was unlawfully appointed.

In her 93-page opinion, Cannon, a Trump appointee, said Smith's appointment and funding usurped the role of Congress, echoing a recent argument put forward by conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

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It was a stunning victory for the former president, who immediately called for an end to his other pending cases.

Smith was named special counsel in 2022 by Biden's attorney general, Merrick Garland. He was tasked with overseeing the investigations into Trump's handling of classified documents after he left office and his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

Cannon's ruling followed a Supreme Court opinion earlier this month that former presidents enjoy broad immunity from criminal prosecution for their official acts.

That decision has helped Trump in his quest to delay the trials he faces until after the November election.

These include charges in Washington and Georgia related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Biden.

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In the Florida case, Trump was facing 31 counts of "willful retention of national defense information," each punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

He also faced charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements.

Trump allegedly kept classified documents – which included records from the Pentagon and CIA – unsecured at his Mar-a-Lago home and thwarted efforts to retrieve them.

The material included secret nuclear and defense documents, according to prosecutors.

Republicans contended the prosecution was unfair and selective after a special counsel opted in February not to pursue charges against Biden, who kept some classified material at his home after leaving the vice presidency in 2017.