Aileen Cannon has taken the sledgehammer to the rule of law | Laurence H Tribe and Dennis Aftergut

The federal judge's ruling in the Trump document case is a travesty

If Trump v United States, the US supreme court majority's shocking immunity decision on 1 July, left anyone unconvinced that America's courts are on the ballot, federal judge Aileen Cannon just sealed the deal, dropping a sledgehammer on the rule of law. Just two weeks after the disgraceful immunity decision, she tossed out Trump's prosecution for stealing national security documents after losing re-election, smashing the longstanding and vital authority of special counsels in the bargain.

This election, our constitutional republic is at stake, along with its first principle: no one, including the most powerful, is above the law. Only We, the People, can preserve the freedom and security our laws safeguard.

Laurence H Tribe is the Carl M Loeb University professor of constitutional Law Emeritus at Harvard University. Follow him on @tribelaw

Dennis Aftergut is a former federal prosecutor, currently of counsel to Lawyers Defending American Democracy