Attorney General Merrick Garland criticized a Florida judge's ruling that special counsel Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed during a television interview Tuesday night, marking his first public comments about the case since the ruling.
"Do I look like somebody who would make that basic mistake about the law? I don't think so," Garland told NBC News, citing his two decades of experience as a federal judge.
Garland's remarks came after Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed former President Donald Trump's classified documents case this month on the grounds that Smith's position was in violation of the appointments clause of the Constitution.
Garland said he believes appointing Smith as special counsel to investigate Trump was "constitutional and valid. That's why we appealed."
"I would say that this is the same process of appointing special counsel as was followed in the previous administration," Garland added, pointing to special counsels John Durham and Robert Mueller, who were appointed during the Trump administration.
Prosecutors for Smith have already issued a notice to the court that they appealed Cannon's decision to the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and their full brief laying out their argument for why the judge's decision should be overturned is due by Aug. 27.
A Smith spokesperson said when Cannon issued her decision that her ruling "deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue."
Garland reiterated that "every single court, including the Supreme Court, that has considered the legality of a special counsel appointment has upheld it."
Cannon, a Trump appointee, stunned legal observers when she tossed out Trump's charges that he illegally retained national defense information and obstructed a federal investigation.
Cannon noted in her 93-page ruling that Smith's appointment was unlike the majority of special counsel appointments because Smith, who once served as an acting U.S. attorney, was never appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate the way most special counsels have been.
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"The appointment of private citizens like Mr. Smith — as opposed to already-retained federal employees — appears much closer to the exception than the rule," Cannon observed.
The judge also pointed to Justice Clarence Thomas's recent concurring opinion on presidential immunity, in which the conservative justice highlighted concerns with appointing special counsels who had not been vetted by Congress.