Attorney General Ashley Moody is leading a multistate coalition of other attorneys general urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to affirm the dismissal of U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of former President Donald Trump. The brief argues that Smith’s actions are invalid due to regulations that violate Article II of the U.S. Constitution. 

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “We are leading the fight against the Biden-Harris machine’s persistent attempts to prosecute their political rival — even after the case was dismissed. Through a new multistate effort, we are urging the court to affirm the district court’s dismissal of DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of former President Trump. We have a profound interest in ensuring that those responsible remain democratically accountable to the states’ citizens and in checking unprecedented abuses of executive power.”

In 2022, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed outside attorney Smith to serve as Special Counsel for the DOJ, investing Smith with the full power and independent authority to exercise the functions of any U.S. attorney to investigate Trump. Smith used that authority to take the unprecedented step of indicting a former president and the principal political rival of the current administration in power. However, unlike a U.S. attorney, Smith faces next-to-zero presidential accountability.