Donald Trump, a former president, has carried his argument with the Department of Justice over an FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago in August all the way up to the Supreme Court.
Trump asked the Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court's ruling that prevented a special master from looking into allegedly sensitive materials that the FBI had taken from Mar-a-Lago. A federal judge's ruling providing the special master access to all of the papers seized in the raid was partially overturned last month by a three-judge panel with the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
“The Eleventh Circuit lacked jurisdiction to review, much less stay, an interlocutory order of the District Court providing for the Special Master to review materials seized from President Trump’s home, including approximately 103 documents the Government contends bear classification markings. This application seeks to vacate only that portion of the Eleventh Circuit’s Stay Order limiting the scope of the Special Master’s review of the documents bearing classification markings,” Trump’s legal team said in a 296-page filing with the Supreme Court Tuesday.
The defense team for the former president also criticized the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) for the raid and criminal inquiry that followed a complaint to the National Archives.
“[T]he Government has attempted to criminalize a document management dispute and now vehemently objects to a transparent process that provides much-needed oversight,” the filing says. “The Government’s attempt to shield the purportedly classified documents from the ambit of a Senior United States District Judge who served for seven years on the FISA Court, and preclude review by a former President of his own personal and Presidential records, illustrates precisely why the District Court found a special master was appropriate and necessary under the circumstances.”
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