Want to be a fly on the wall in the high-stakes, high-level special master negotiations? OK, here you go:
“Why should we pay? You’re the one who asked for it.”
“I only asked for it because you came into my house and took my stuff.”
“We only came to your house because it’s our stuff and you swiped it.”
“But it’s my stuff …”
On Friday, lawyers for the former president of the United States and top attorneys for the United States Department of Justice proposed candidates to be appointed as special master to sift through materials seized by warrant from Mar-a-Lago on August 8. That was in keeping with the deadline imposed by United States District Judge Aileen Cannon in Palm Beach.
Each side proposed two candidates, and there is nothing much to say about that because all four are well-credentialed and would presumably do a fine job: DOJ proposed retired federal judges Thomas Griffith (of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals) and Barbara Jones (of the Southern District of New York — and my personal favorite because she was my Organized Crime Unit chief at the U.S. attorney’s office when I was young and even more foolish); Trump proposed retired federal judge Raymond Dearie (Eastern District of New York) and Florida’s former Deputy Attorney General Paul Huck.
The only question I have about all this is why Judge Cannon and the parties need an outside lawyer when the federal court in the Southern District of Florida employs 16 magistrate judges — including Bruce Reinhart, who issued the Mar-a-Lago search warrant. The magistrate judges are supposed to assist district judges, such as Cannon, with just these kinds of assignments. The applicable federal rule says a special master may be appointed to sort out complex issues if the matter cannot be effectively and timely addressed by a magistrate judge. Maybe it’s clear to somebody why this one can’t, but it’s not clear to me.
That question may be worth pressing, since a dispute has broken out between the parties over who pays. The above-linked rule says a special master should be paid “by a party or parties” — meaning, it’s up to the judge to decide. Trump, our notoriously frugal former president, is the one who has asked for a special master, over the objection of the Justice Department, which has forcefully argued that a special master is unnecessary and, in light of Trump’s delay in seeking one, objectionable. Yet, Trump is calling for Uncle Sam to pick up at least half the tab.
I would note that another federal rule allows a judge to refer contested fee issues concerning the value of services to . . . yes . . . a special master. Don’t ask me who pays for that!