Former President Trump has appealed to the Supreme Court

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Trump asks Supreme Court to block release of his White House notes to committee Jan. 6

Dec. 23, 2021 1:17 PM

Posted: Dec 23, 2021 1:17 PM

Updated: December 23, 2021 1:19 PM

Originally Published: 23 DEC 21 11:57 ET

Updated: 23 DEC 21 14:03 ET

By Tierney Sneed, Katelyn Polantz and Ariane de Vogue, CNN

(CNN)-Former President Donald Trump appealed to the Supreme Court on Thursday to block the release of documents from his White House to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot in the Capitol, stepping up his efforts to keep approximately 700 pages of records secret.

The House committee, which is charged with investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol to provide recommendations for preventing such attacks in the future, is seeking documents as it explores Trump’s role in the effort. to overthrow the election. That included his addressing a rally on Jan. 6 when he ordered followers to go to the Capitol where lawmakers are set to verify election results and “fight” for their county. The documents are currently held by the National Archives.

In filings submitted to the Supreme Court on Thursday, Trump asked magistrates to conduct a full review of the case and he requested that while they consider his position, they withhold the lower court’s decision authorizing the disclosure of his records as they consider taking the case.

“The limited interest the Committee may have in promptly retrieving the requested records is low compared to President Trump’s interest in securing judicial review before he suffers irreparable harm,” the lawyers wrote. by Trump in court appearances.

The records may answer long -standing questions about the riot

In question are hundreds of documents including activity logs, schedules, speech notes and three pages of handwritten notes since then — White House chief of staff Mark Meadows — papers that could reveal happening inside the West Wing as Trump supporters gather in Washington and then pass the U.S. Capitol, disrupting the certification of the 2020 vote. The records may answer some of the most closely watched facts of what happened between Trump and other high-level officials, including those under siege on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6.

Trump is also trying to keep secret a draft proclamation honoring the two police officers who died in the siege and memos and other documents about supposed election fraud and efforts to undo Trump’s loss to the presidency, said the National Archives in court documents.

The battle over the documents comes from a lawsuit filed by Trump against the Archives as well as the House Committee, which seeks to stop the disclosure of the records. Trump argues that those documents should remain confidential under the former President’s own statements of executive privilege, though so far, lower courts have rejected his arguments.

Thursday’s filing in the Supreme Court marks the escalation of the dispute, in which President Joe Biden determined that withholding documents based on executive privilege was not in the interests of the United States. In a letter to the National Archives in October, White House Counsel Dana A. Remus said the President refused to assert the privilege because Congress has a “compelling need to serve its legislative duties to understand the circumstances that led to these horrible events. ”

In their filings in the Supreme Court on Thursday, lawyers for the former President said the House’s request for Trump White House documents was “not bound by any valid legislative intent and exceeded the authority of Congress under the Constitution. and the Presidential Records Act. “

Trump told the Supreme Court that the case resulted in “novel and important questions of law that the Court must resolve.”

“While executive privilege protections and restrictions on access to presidential records are qualified, it is critical that future Presidents and their advisers understand the contours and perimeters of that privilege — and its exceptions — then of the end of the president’s term, ”Trump said. at his request that the court take the case.

The arguments were rejected by the lower courts

Previously, both a district court judge and the DC U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Trump’s arguments in decisions that supported the legitimacy of document requests and in the investigation more broadly.

“Former President Trump has given this court no legal reason to set aside President Biden’s assessment of the interests of the Executive Branch at stake, or to create a separation of power conflicts that the Political Branches avoid, “said the DC Circuit in its opinion earlier. moon. In its Dec. 9 decision against Trump, the appeals court gave him 14 days to request Supreme Court intervention.

In his application to Chief Justice John Roberts-who handles emergency matters emanating from the DC Circuit-to postpone the appellate court’s decision, Trump said agreeing to release the documents before the Supreme Court considers case would “harm Presidential decision -making for all would -be Presidents.”

“There has been no other Presidential transition in more than three years; Congress has time to allow this Court to consider this expedited appeal, ”Trump wrote in the filing.

What’s not to say is that Republicans are expected to take control of the House in next year’s election and likely end the House select committee investigation.

This story has been updated with more information.

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