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The Supreme Court on Thursday denied former President Donald Trump’s request to prevent the Justice Department from reviewing classified documents seized from hisMar-a-Lago residence.
“The application to vacate the stay entered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on September 21, 2022, presented to Justice Thomas and by him referred to the Court is denied,” the filing read.
The ruling rejects an emergency request, filed by Trump’s legal team earlier this month, arguing that the 11th Circuit Court lacked authority to reverse a restraining order barring the DOJ from reviewing classified documents recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in an August raid by the FBI.
Trump has made various attempts to prevent the DOJ from accessing the trove of documents, including demanding the appointment of a “special master” to review the recovered documents and arbitrate claims of executive and attorney privilege. Judge Raymond Dearie, whom a Trump-appointed judge selected for the role, took a torch to the former president’s claims that his retention of the documents was lawful because he had covertly declassified them before leaving office. “If the government gives me prima facia evidence that they are classified documents,” Dearie said, “and you don’t advance any claim of declassification, I’m left with a prima facia case of classified documents,” Dearie said, “and as far as I’m concerned, that’s the end of it.”
Nevertheless, Trump hoped the Supreme Court would allow Dearie to renewed access to a trove of classified documents that the 11th Circuit Court ruled the DOJ could review.
Trump, of course, appointed three of the nine justices on the court, which is now dominated by conservatives.
