The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an emergency request from Donald Trump to intervene in the dispute over classified documents seized by federal agents from his Mar-a-Lago residence in August.
The former president had asked the justices to reverse a federal appeals court and allow a special master to review about 100 documents marked classified, a move that could have opened the door for his legal team to review the records and argue that they should be off limits to prosecutors in a criminal case.
But in a swift ruling, the justices denied the request. There were no noted dissents.
The court’s decision came as the House select committee holds a hearing on Trump’s actions during the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
In a filing last week the Justice Department had asked the court to stay out of the Mar-a-Lago case, calling the records “extraordinarily sensitive.”
At issue are two orders from Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon, who last month authorized a special master to review seized materials – including those with classified markings.
However, a panel of judges on the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals, acting upon a request from the Justice Department, agreed to freeze portions of those orders while the legal dispute plays out.
Trump has argued that he may have had a right, as a former president, to possess certain government documents, including documents potentially containing the country’s most sensitive secrets. And he claimed that the appeals court exceeded its authority in ruling against him.
The Supreme Court disagreed with him and denied his request.
