Judge Set to Hear Trump and DOJ Picks for Special Master

Former President Donald Trump and the Justice Department (DOJ) have each submitted two candidates to serve as an independent special master to review documents the FBI seized from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence last month.

The four candidates for the position were revealed on Sept. 9 in an eight-page filing (pdf) with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. According to the court filing, Trump’s legal team and the DOJ will “advise the Court about their respective positions on the other party’s proposed candidates” on Sept. 12.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Sept. 5 granted Trump’s request to have a special master independently review seized documents that may be protected by attorney-client or executive privilege. Days later, The DOJ filed an appeal against the judge’s order, arguing that doing so would place “irreparable harm” to U.S. national security.

Aside from the question of who will serve as special master, Trump’s legal team and the DOJ are apart on the scope of duties the individual would have. Lawyers for Trump want the special master to review “all seized materials, including documents with classification markings,” but the DOJ said it does not believe the individual should be permitted to review any classified records or consider potential claims of executive privilege.

The four candidates that Trump and the DOJ have proposed as potential special masters are as follows.

Trump’s Choices

The first of two Trump’s choices is Raymond J. Dearie, who began his federal judicial service in 1986, the year he was nominated by then-President Ronald Regan and confirmed by the Senate to be a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of New York.

Beginning in 2007, he became the court’s chief judge, a position he held until 2011. That year, he also assumed senior status on the court,