The Trump ‘special master’ ruling violates the principle that no-one is above the law | Laurence H Tribe and Dennis Aftergut

Judge Aileen Cannon's opinion screams out that she applies more lenient rules to Donald Trump

The best thing one can say about Judge Aileen Cannon's decision Monday appointing a special master to review the documents seized from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort is that it's not the end of the world: the Justice Department can continue its investigation of Donald Trump's apparent theft and retention of highly sensitive defense-related documents, at least those that weren't seized in the August 6 search. The Washington Post reported that those documents included nuclear secrets of other nations.

It can also continue to investigate his efforts to overturn the presidential election, culminating in his role in the violent insurrection of January 6, keeping in mind the historic holding of a New Mexico state court this September 6 that the 14th Amendment bars all who played such a role from ever again holding public office in the United States.

Laurence H Tribe is the Carl M Loeb University Professor and Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School

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