Supreme Court Denies Trump Motion Seeking To Reinstall Special Master

The US Supreme Court has denied an appeal by former President Donald Trump to reinstate a special master to access classified documents seized by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump had requested that the USSC vacate the 11th circuit’s stay of Judge Aileen Cannon’s order which required the DOJ to turn over more than 100 classified documents to Special Master Raymond Dearie for review, as part of an examination of the more than 11,000 government records seized during the August 8 raid – arguing that it “impairs substantially the ongoing, time-sensitive work of the special master.”

“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’s lawyers argued.

NEW: The Supreme Court has denied Trump’s request to vacate the 11th circuit’s stay of Judge Aileen Cannon’s order requiring DOJ to turn over classified material from Mar-a-Lago to Special Master Raymond Dearie for his review. pic.twitter.com/WuCtBskGEP

— Daniel Barnes (@dnlbrns) October 13, 2022

Instead, the Supreme Court declined to intervene after the DOJ on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to deny Trump’s appeal, CNBC reports.

U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar in a court filing argued that Trump has “no plausible claims” to the classified records.

Trump’s appeal to the Supreme Court is on a relatively narrow issue and is not expected to affect any ultimate decision by DOJ on whether to file criminal charges against him or others.

The DOJ is investigating Trump for removing records from the White House upon his departure from office in January 2021. By law, those records belong to the federal government and must be surrendered to the National Archives and Records administration. Trump, meanwhile, has claimed that he declassified them prior to leaving office.