The fight between former President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice over records the FBI seized during a raid on his Florida home has gone to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). .Lawyers for Trump asked Justice Clarence Thomas on Tuesday to vacate part of a ruling by a federal appeals court that said the Justice Department can resume using classified documents taken from the former president's Florida estate in its criminal investigation..The emergency request asking the justices to block part of a lower court’s ruling that prevented an independent arbiter requested by Trump, known as a special master, from vetting more than 100 documents marked as classified that were among 11,000 records seized by FBI agents during the raid at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach on Aug. 8..The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Sept. 21 repudiated a decision by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who had temporarily barred the department from examining the seized classified documents until the special master, who was requested by Trump, had weeded out any that could be deemed privileged and withheld from investigators..Such a move would make it easier for Trump to continue to pursue claims that those documents, some marked Top Secret, should not be in the hands of Justice Department investigators because they are subject to executive privilege or for other reasons..In its filing, Trump's legal team asked the high court to allow the special master to be allowed to review classified documents seized by federal agents.."The Eleventh Circuit lacked jurisdiction to review, much less stay, an interlocutory order of the District Court providing for the Special Master to review materials seized from President Trump’s home, including approximately 103 documents the Government contends bear classification markings," the filing said. "This application seeks to vacate only that portion of the Eleventh Circuit’s Stay Order limiting the scope of the Special Master’s review of the documents bearing classification markings.".Trump’s legal team added “any limit on the comprehensive and transparent review of materials seized in the extraordinary raid of a president’s home erodes public confidence in our system of justice.”.Trump would need five justices on the court to agree with him and even though the court has a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices he appointed, the former president has not fared well in other such emergency applications..His attempt to have SCOTUS prevent White House documents from being handed over to the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 incident on the Capitol and his bid to avoid financial records being disclosed to prosecutors in New York failed..Trump's lawyers also said in the filing the Justice Department has "attempted to criminalize a document management dispute and now vehemently objects to a transparent process that provides much-needed oversight."
The fight between former President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice over records the FBI seized during a raid on his Florida home has gone to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). .Lawyers for Trump asked Justice Clarence Thomas on Tuesday to vacate part of a ruling by a federal appeals court that said the Justice Department can resume using classified documents taken from the former president's Florida estate in its criminal investigation..The emergency request asking the justices to block part of a lower court’s ruling that prevented an independent arbiter requested by Trump, known as a special master, from vetting more than 100 documents marked as classified that were among 11,000 records seized by FBI agents during the raid at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach on Aug. 8..The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Sept. 21 repudiated a decision by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who had temporarily barred the department from examining the seized classified documents until the special master, who was requested by Trump, had weeded out any that could be deemed privileged and withheld from investigators..Such a move would make it easier for Trump to continue to pursue claims that those documents, some marked Top Secret, should not be in the hands of Justice Department investigators because they are subject to executive privilege or for other reasons..In its filing, Trump's legal team asked the high court to allow the special master to be allowed to review classified documents seized by federal agents.."The Eleventh Circuit lacked jurisdiction to review, much less stay, an interlocutory order of the District Court providing for the Special Master to review materials seized from President Trump’s home, including approximately 103 documents the Government contends bear classification markings," the filing said. "This application seeks to vacate only that portion of the Eleventh Circuit’s Stay Order limiting the scope of the Special Master’s review of the documents bearing classification markings.".Trump’s legal team added “any limit on the comprehensive and transparent review of materials seized in the extraordinary raid of a president’s home erodes public confidence in our system of justice.”.Trump would need five justices on the court to agree with him and even though the court has a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices he appointed, the former president has not fared well in other such emergency applications..His attempt to have SCOTUS prevent White House documents from being handed over to the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 incident on the Capitol and his bid to avoid financial records being disclosed to prosecutors in New York failed..Trump's lawyers also said in the filing the Justice Department has "attempted to criminalize a document management dispute and now vehemently objects to a transparent process that provides much-needed oversight."
