Supreme Court Rejects Donald Trump’s Plea to Step in on Mar-a-Lago Documents Case
Donald Trump's legal woes continued on Thursday, as not only was he subpoenaed by the January 6 committee, but also got rejected on his plea for the Supreme Court to step into his case regarding the classified documents he stored a Mar-a-Lago.
The former president made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court and pressed them on the issue relating to classified documents seized in the FBI search on his Florida home in Mar-a-Lago. However, the highest court rejected the plea. The justices did not comment on why they turned down the case.
Why Did Donald Trump Want the Supreme Court to Step In?
The Associated Press reported that the former president's legal team asked the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling and permit an independent arbiter, also known as a special master, to review the approximately 100 documents seized by the FBI that had classified markings taken during the August 8 raid on Mar-a-Lago.
The move is widely seen to reduce the potential impact of the special master process on the ongoing criminal investigation by the Department of Justice into the classified documents that Trump brought home when he exited the White House last year.
The request from Trump and his legal team came after the 11th U.S. Circuit of Appeals stopped the special master from examining the classified documents for National Security reasons. According to CNBC, the appeals court stated that only the Department of Justice can review the subset of records.
The Trump legal team argued to the Supreme Court that the ruling made by the appeals court "impairs substantially the ongoing, time-sensitive work of the special master." They added that "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."
The request was worrisome for investigators, as the justice overseeing emergency appeals from the 11th Circuit was Clarence Thomas, who is married to notable Trump ally Ginni Thomas. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court still rejected the appeal.
Department of Justice Asked Supreme Court To Stay Out of the Case
The Department of Justice had asked the Supreme Court to deny former President Trump's appeal, with U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar arguing that the former president has "no plausible claims" to the classified records.
According to CNN, the Department of Justice called the records taken by Trump "extraordinarily sensitive," so they asked the Supreme Court to stay out of the case as the legal challenges play out.
The DOJ cited a previous case and stated that courts should be "cautious before insisting upon an examination of records whose disclosure would jeopardize national security." The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with this and junked Trump's plea, which led the former president to take his case to the Supreme Court, which also agreed with the Justice Department's arguments.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Rick Martin
WATCH: Supreme Court Rejects Trump's Appeal Over Mar-a-Lago Documents Case - NBC News
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