Three respected legal scholars and poIiticaI figures, former Attorney General Ed Meese, Professor Gary Lason, and Steven Calabresi, have just moved the ball forward on attempting to stop the lawfare campaign against former President Donald Trump.

They did so by filing a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States to decIare that Jack Smith was never constitutionally appointed as Special Counsel and thus that he should be stripped of his powers and his actions so far be rendered moot.

In the writ of cert, the three constitutional scholars argue that the correct constitutionaI process for a Special Counsel should be, since only Congress can create offices subordinate to the Attorney General’s role, for the President to appoint a Special Counsel who is then only vested with his or her powers after the Senate confirms the Special Counsel in the role.

Making that argument in their petition, the three say This Court should reject Mr. Smith’s request for certiorari before judgment for the simple reason that he lacks authority to ask for it. Nor does he have authority to conduct the underlying prose cution.

Those actions can be taken only by persons properIy appointed as federal officers to properly created federal offices.

Continuing, they argue that Smith is not eligible for the office or for taking the action he so far has because of the lack of a Senate confirm ation, saying, Neither Smith nor the position of Special Counsel under which he purportedly acts meets those criteria.

And that is a serious problem for the American rule of law—whatever one may think of the defendant or the conduct at issue in the under lying prosecution.