Donald Trump filed his response to the feds’ Motion for a Partial Stay, seeking to reverse that part of the District Court’s ruling that pending review by the Special Master, the feds could not use seized document marked classified, as part of the ongoing investigation. The Special Master is moving quickly, with a preliminary conference scheduled at 2 p.m. today.
From the Response summary of argument:
This investigation of the 45th President of the United States is both unprecedented and misguided. In what at its core is a document storage dispute that has spiraled out of control, the Government wrongfully seeks to criminalize the possession by the 45th President of his own Presidential and personal records. Recognizing the extraordinary circumstances presented by this case, the District Court determined that the appointment of a special master and entry of a limited injunction were “fully consonant” with “the public interest, the principles of civil and criminal procedure, and the principles of equity.”A13.1Having failed to convince the District Court to impose a stay of its Order, the Government now asks this Court to “presuppose[] the content, designation, and associated interests in materials under its control,” A7, and to preclude any review by a highly regarded and jointly recommended special master of what the Government unilaterally contends are “classified records.” This Court should, respectfully, decline the Government’s invitation to proceed directly toward a preordained conclusion.The District Court did not err in temporarily enjoining the Government’s review and use of records bearing classification markings for criminal investigative purposes because the merits support that narrowly tailored injunction. Moreover, this Court should deny the Government’s request to stay the portion of the Appointment Order requiring disclosure of the purported “classified records” to the Special Master because that Order Appointing Special Master, AA78,2 is simply not appealable under 28 U.S.C. § 1292.
A Preliminary Conference is scheduled before the Special Master at 2 p.m. today. The feds and Trump have submitted separate agenda for the conference. Given the conference could implicate the handling of the documents marked classified, I would not be surprised by a rapid 11th Circuit ruling on the motion for a stay.
MORE TO FOLLOW
Eleven states, led by Texas, have filed an Amicus Brief supporting Trump:
In this sui generis case, however, there is reason to doubt that this presumption of regularity should be afforded to the decisions of the Biden Administration in connection with the raid of, and seizure of documents from, the personal residence of President Trump. The district court recognized as much by appointing a special master to review the set of documents at issue, by refusing “to accept the Government’s conclusions” about the contents of the seized documents, and by observing that “evenhanded procedure does not demand unquestioning trust in the determinations of the Department of Justice.” A6-7, 12. This approach was particularly necessary here given the “undeniably unprecedented nature of the search of a former President’s residence” coupled with the “swirling allegations of bias and media leaks.” A24, 32; see also A23 n.11 (noting the Government’s counsel’s “candid[] acknowledge[ment] [of] the unfortunate existence of leaks to the press”). But in addition to these compelling circumstances, the Administration’s questionable conduct in the litigation and policy-making spheres—which has provoked the ire of several federal judges— further supports affirming the district court’s sound decision to proceed with caution via a special master.
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