When it comes to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s Wednesday decision in United States v. Trump, there may be more ill-reasoned, counter-historical constitutional frolics in the annals of the federal judiciary, but if there are, they do not readily come to mind.

In her 93-page opinion, Cannon, 43 years old with less than four years experience as a judge, dismissed all the Espionage Act charges against former President Donald Trump for his alleged mishandling of classified documents on the theory that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s appointment by Attorney General Merrick Garland was a violation of the Justice Department’s charter. The judge decreed that the appointment violated the separation of powers by creating an executive branch office without express congressional authorization. Errors abound.

For starters, Cannon turned separation of powers on its head. The position of special prosecutor in the Justice Department originated at the insistence of Congress as the Watergate scandal unfolded. It was meant to fortify separation of powers by checking the president’s otherwise limitless power to block investigations and prosecutions targeting his administration — including himself. In 1973, as a condition to earn nomination from the Senate, attorney general nominee Elliot Richarson appointed former U.S. Solicitor General Archibald Cox as a special prosecutor with a quasi-independent charter to investigate President Richard Nixon free of any conflict of political interest. No one in Congress doubted the appointment authority of Attorney General Richardson. Neither did Nixon.

Cox was illegally fired in the infamous Saturday Night Massacre on October 20, 1973. Acting Attorney General and Solicitor General Robert Bork, a renowned conservative constitutional scholar, insisted on the appointment of a successor special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski. The U.S. Supreme Court in Nixon v. United States recognized Jaworski’s appointment pursuant to federal statutes without raising an eyebrow, affirming his standing to subpoena Nixon for tapes relevant to the Watergate coverup.

Separation of powers, which pits ambition against ambition, breaks down when the executive branch investigates itself. Attorney General Richardson’s predecessors, John Mitchell and Richard Kleindienst, were both convicted of crimes over their role in the Watergate scandal. Special prosecutors must be adversaries of the executive branch officials under suspicion, including the president.

Judge Cannon’s decision destroys separation of powers by mandating that all prosecutorial decisions concerning incumbent or former executive branch officers be entrusted to the president or attorney general, who have partisan political agendas that skew prosecutorial decisions. The public has more confidence in Jack Smith investigating or prosecuting Trump than it would if Attorney General Garland, subject to dismissal at any time by President Joe Biden, stepped into Smith’s shoes. But the latter is what Cannon’s decision calls for.

Cannon dismissed the unanimous Nixon precedent as non-binding, unpersuasive dicta that could be airbrushed out of the Supreme Court’s opinion. At the same time, she unconvincingly cited comments Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas made in a lonely concurring opinion to cast doubt on the legality of Smith’s appointment.

Cannon also dismissed the Supreme Court’s 1890 decision in In re Neagle, which upheld the power of the president or attorney general to appoint persons to assist in their constitutional obligations.

Cannon appeared skeptical of her own novel handiwork. She concluded her opinion with an order that declared Special Counsel Smith’s appointment invalid only in her courtroom. Smith can continue to litigate against Trump in other fora.

There is no chance that Judge Cannon’s decision will survive further review. She’s already faced a stern rebuke in the same case by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which rebuffed her attempt to appoint a “special master” to vet materials seized by the special counsel.

Judge Cannon’s latest caper makes her removal from the case by the Court of Appeals highly probable, and necessary.

Bruce Fein (bruce@feinpoints .com) was associate deputy attorney general under President Ronald Reagan and is the author of “American Empire Before the Fall.” He served in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel during the Watergate scandal.