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Appeals Court: Feds Can Keep All Records Seized In Mar-a-Lago Raid, And There’s Nothing Trump Can Do About It

Appeals Court: Feds Can Keep All Records Seized In Mar-a-Lago Raid, And There’s Nothing Trump Can Do About It

11th Circuit: “The district court improperly exercised equitable jurisdiction in this case.”

In a sweeping decision today, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals found that Donald Trump’s civil lawsuit seeking court supervision of the DOJ/FBI’s review of documents seized in the Mar-a-Lago raid was invalid, the district court never should have exercised jurisdiction, with the implication that the Special Master process was unauthorized.

The decision points to a massive gap in citizens’ rights. So long that the government lawfully convinces a magistrate judge — in an ex parte proceeeding in which the target has no role — that probable cause exists for a search warrant, the target cannot challenge the government’s possession of documents and property seized within the scope of the warrant. There are some rare exceptions where property is urgently needed by the target, but the types of records seized in Trump’s case did not fall under those exceptions. The only remedy is to move to keep the records out of evidence if there is a criminal prosecution — but during the investigative stage, tough luck.

Here, of course, the search warrant was massively overly broad. And allowed the feds to sweep up a wide range of documents, basically anything in the vicinity of the documents marked classified. Tax, medical, and other records were swept up for review by the feds.

Here’s some key excerpts, but understand, you have almost no rights in the face of federal government-obtained search warrants, unless and until you are prosecuted.

From the Opinion:

This appeal requires us to consider whether the district court had jurisdiction to block the United States from using lawfully seized records in a criminal investigation. The answer is no.

Former President Donald J. Trump brought a civil action seeking an injunction against the government after it executed a search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago residence. He argues that a courtmandated special master review process is necessary because the government’s Privilege Review Team protocols were inadequate, because various seized documents are protected by executive or attorney-client privilege, because he could have declassified documents or designated them as personal rather than presidential records, and—if all that fails—because the government’s appeal was procedurally deficient. The government disagrees with each contention.

These disputes ignore one fundamental question—whether the district court had the power to hear the case. After all: “Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. They possess only that power authorized by Constitution and statute, which is not to be expanded by judicial decree.” Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 377 (1994) (citation omitted).

This case was such an expansion. Exercises of equitable jurisdiction—which the district court invoked here—should be “exceptional” and “anomalous.” Hunsucker v. Phinney, 497 F.2d 29, 32 (5th Cir. 1974).1 Our precedents have limited this jurisdiction with a four-factor test. Richey v. Smith, 515 F.2d 1239, 1243–44 (5th Cir. 1975). Plaintiff’s jurisdictional arguments fail all four factors.

In considering these arguments, we are faced with a choice: apply our usual test; drastically expand the availability of equitable jurisdiction for every subject of a search warrant; or carve out an unprecedented exception in our law for former presidents. We choose the first option. So the case must be dismissed.

The case is over for all pracitcal purposes:

… Now, with the benefit of oral argument, we conclude that the district court lacked jurisdiction to consider Plaintiff’s initial motion or to issue any orders in response to it….

As for records that may otherwise be “sensitive,” it cannot be that prosecutors reading unprivileged documents seized pursuant to a lawful warrant constitutes an irreparable injury for purposes of asserting equitable jurisdiction. Here too, Plaintiff’s argument would apply to nearly every subject of a search warrant. The district court’s unsupported conclusion that government possession of seized evidence creates an “unquantifiable” risk of public disclosure is not enough to show that Plaintiff faces irreparable harm….

The law is clear. We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so. Either approach would be a radical reordering of our caselaw limiting the federal courts’ involvement in criminal investigations. And both would violate bedrock separation-of-powers limitations. Accordingly, we agree with the government that the district court improperly exercised equitable jurisdiction, and that dismissal of the entire proceeding is required.

The district court improperly exercised equitable jurisdiction in this case. For that reason, we VACATE the September 5 order on appeal and REMAND with instructions for the district court to DISMISS the underlying civil action.

Rummage on feds, rummage on.

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Comments

So it’s official. We now have a Gestapo and no rights.

casualobserver | December 1, 2022 at 9:47 pm

Attorney client privilege gets closet and closer to a theoretical right, not one defended. As long as the government crosses its Ts, you have no privacy and no recourse. Gov is supreme.

I F-king hate this Country

We don’t have any courts to respect anymore, and yes, that includes the Supreme Court which court jesters are seated

    Guess you haven’t lived in other countries. I’ve lived on three different continents during my working career and our relief in returning home after each assignment (especially from Moscow) was immense. This truly is a blessed country and we are indeed fortunate to be citizens of the United States. So, if you’re planning on leaving, good-bye and good luck…because you’ll need it.

      gonzotx in reply to RNJD. | December 1, 2022 at 10:39 pm

      I Bet AMerica is looking a lot more like those 3 countries now isn’t it!

        Actually, gonzo, it looks more like The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Our culture is disintegrating before our eyes, but the legal system is still better than most. If we’d only move to a “loser pays the opposing party’s costs” in litigation that would indeed help.

      Colonel Travis in reply to RNJD. | December 2, 2022 at 12:14 am

      Guess you haven’t paid attention to the tyranny in this country since you retired. Yes, we can go to fancy grocery stores in our fancy cars and live in fancy houses and play fancy video games and type fancy comments on our fancy telephones. Meanwhile, we are blessed to have a government hell bent on jailing people with the “wrong” politics? That we were blessed to be locked down like freaking China and that we weren’t allowed to question a damn thing about it? That we are blessed the government colludes with Big Tech to shut down dissent?

      We have a culture that has been brainwashing everyone for decades from the womb forward, who have grown up and who look around and see all this BS, they see the stupidest person in history crowned president stumble around like an dementia patient, they see an economy here and across the world destroyed, and they just went to the polls less than a month ago and said – eh, who cares.

      I don’t know what kind of fantasy land you live in, but the United States today is not the United States of the previous century. What’s happening scares the hell out of me and I never thought I’d ever type that sentence in my life.

        We’ve gone from Reagan’s “morning in America” to a Democrat socialist shepherded “twilight in America.”

        The Venezuelization is on.

        Amen Colonel.

        Guess you’re a glass half empty person, huh? I didn’t say that nothing was wrong, or couldn’t be better, but I sure don’t hate the United States like gonzo claims. The anti-semitism here has gotten out of control and the boy crush on authoritarian figures like Putin is plain scary. But I love the USA. Sad that you don’t seem to.

          buckeyeminuteman in reply to RNJD. | December 4, 2022 at 8:48 am

          Antisemitism isn’t anyway in the top 100 things wrong with this country. And nobody has a boy crush on Putin. They just hate giving $100B to Ukraine who funnels it back to our crooked politicians. You sound vaccinated.

      Arminius in reply to RNJD. | December 2, 2022 at 1:24 am

      I agree with you having served 20 years in the Navy almost entirely OCONUS. That’s jargon for “outside the continental United States.” For some reason the Navy seemed to conflate Intel with the legal profession. I was constantly getting dragged into legal issues. I was dumbfounded. Like the time I was on staff at Commander Naval Forces Japan and the company that acquired the former naval drydocks in Sasebo was refusing to let the Navy use them. Apparently when we were winding down the occupation post WWII we turned the facility over but with conditions. The memorandum stipulated if we needed the drydocks we had priority. So this JAG brings me this document to get my professional opinion.

      I’m staring at this commander (I was a lieutenant then) thinking WTF? You’re guy who went to law school. Then I gave him the bad news. Yes this English language version of the MOU says exactly what you think. But Japanese government has a Japanese version and if try to make this a legal battle what do you think a Japanese judge is going to decide? Pay the extortion money or get those ships back to the states.

      I had already seen enough miscarriages of Justice to know how things would turn out. 4 USMC Gunnery Sergeants carpooling to work on New Years Day. Some Japanese kid snot slinging drunk runs a red light t bones them killing them all. The police verdict? If those dambed Marines had stayed in their own country there wouldn’t have been anything for the idiot kid to hit. Besides he’s only 21 and they don’t want to ruin his life. So it’s the Marines’ fault.

      Same thing for the Chief driving aboard Sasebo. A stupid kid raging along a sidewalk on his motor scooter runs a red light and t bones the Chief’s van but only succeeds in killing himself. Now the Chief is charged with vehicular manslaughter. Fortunately we were able to raise enough money to pay off the family and then put that man on the next USAF plane back to the US before anyone could change their minds.

      There’s an old Irish saying. You can’t beat the local horse at the county fair. It’s not allowed. In most countries when the cops decide you’re guilty, and if you’re an American abroad you’re presumed guilty, then police work devolves to forcing a confession out of you. After a few days of non-stop of tag team most people will confess to killing Christ. A few will hold out. Then the court which has already prejudged the accused will go harsher since the guilty American showed no remorse.

      Americans don’t do well in foreign prisons. Americans were interred at Uraga which isn’t to far from the Navy base at Yokosuka. We’d deliver the service members health and comfort items. You could see them waste away. That was Japan. I don’t think most Americans can last 6 months in a 3rd world prison like in the Philippines.

      Yes. The US legal system has taken a turn toward 3rd world. But we still have a long way to go to catch up.

        Colonel Travis in reply to Arminius. | December 2, 2022 at 12:44 pm

        No I’m a half glass full kind of guy. I also prefer to be honest about how bad things are. The flag that has flown at my house for decades is the Betsy Ross flag. Why? I love the freedom and liberty here as it was founded. I don’t love America unconditionally. If I did, I wouldn’t care if our laws matched North Korea. I love America most conditionally and so do you. Every flag iteration in this country is still official, they are never demoted to irrelevancy. Then a few years ago, the left told me that flag makes me a slave lover, an oppressor, a government overthrow schemer, an outlier, a threat. Am I supposed to be grateful to be bullied into getting the “proper” flag (which they shun during the national anthem anyway)? The only thing separating us from the very tyranny we fled is the Constitution, which is ignored by at least half this country. Am I supposed to cheer this?

        I am fortunate enough to live in a state that has not gone off the deep end. But if I had to chose any given blue state over any given Eurotrash nation, it would seriously be a difficult decision. If I had to chose any given blue state over Somalia, hell yes I’d chose a blue state. At the same time, forgive me for thinking how dumb it is, thanks to far too many of our own citizens, to be lowering the standards of world comparison by the hour.

      wendybar in reply to RNJD. | December 2, 2022 at 6:35 am

      America was supposed to be different…not like the other countries.

        CommoChief in reply to wendybar. | December 2, 2022 at 8:52 am

        The USA is different. Go spend some time overseas and you will quickly appreciate the fact that our Nation is unique. You don’t even have to leave the hemisphere.

        Go to Canada to view a 1st world Nation and it’s differences. Then go to Mexico and see the difference with a 2nd world Nation. If you are very adventurous go to Haiti and view a 3rd world Nation.

        When you return you will absolutely be glad you live in the USA, even with d/prog doing damage. There simply isn’t another Nation outside of maybe Switzerland that is comparable in terms of citizens rights and lifestyle.

      scooterjay in reply to RNJD. | December 2, 2022 at 8:21 am

      While that may be true it is the lamest excuse for rolling over and taking the abuse.
      Biden and his gang has fucked around and will soon find out.

      Telemachus in reply to RNJD. | December 2, 2022 at 8:56 am

      RNDJ, maybe I can top you. In the course of my federal government career (Career Diplomat) I worked and lived on four continents in eight countries. I also was relieved when I would come home, but after retiring in 2021 and coming back to the US I don’t recognize my country anymore. The hate and disregard for the rule of law (as opposed to power) has completely overtaken one of our two major parties, and is fully aided and abetted by Big Tech/Media/Academia. That hate extends to everyone who stands in their way.

      maxmillion in reply to RNJD. | December 2, 2022 at 11:44 am

      You’re not the Lone Ranger. Many of us have been around the world. It’s NOT the time to shut up about the degradation of our rights.

      aivanther in reply to RNJD. | December 2, 2022 at 2:29 pm

      As someone who also lived in Moscow, yes. I’m deeply concerned about the direction of our country, but even as it is now, we’re still in a much better place than Moscow was.

      That’s not to say I don’t see us sliding that direction more and more overtime, but we’re still not that bad.

    Dathurtz in reply to gonzotx. | December 2, 2022 at 6:28 am

    I love what I was told this country was when I was a kid. I love the community in which I live. I hate that people in our government abuse their power and that the people who should stop them are either in on it or are too cowardly..

    wendybar in reply to gonzotx. | December 2, 2022 at 6:34 am

    I am so disillusioned by everything going on. I never thought my country would become Cuba so fast.

    Durak Kazyol in reply to gonzotx. | December 2, 2022 at 8:33 am

    Gonzo hates America because the government is violating the Constitution? Then why not leave? On to your greener pastures; leave fighting for the country to those of us who don’t hate it.

    The administrative state is a truly dangerous thing. I hate it, not America.

      gonzotx in reply to Durak Kazyol. | December 2, 2022 at 8:45 am

      Oh please
      Love it or leave it

      So 60’s…

        Let me put forward a metaphor, gonzo:
        If America is your mother and she has cancer, a solid look at the facts tells you it’s metastasizing. But when you say “I hate my country” it sounds like you’ve decided it’s Stage 4 and there’s no hope, so you’re going to throw Granny into hospice and see her on an occasional holiday until she finally kicks the bucket. We’re all saying she isn’t Stage 4 – not yet – and we should get her some aggressive treatment to kill the cancer and get her back to snuggling grandkids. And lots of folks pointing to other mothers who really are Stage 4 Liberty Cancer for the comparison.

        But, still, we have to fight to put the cancer into remission. And we’re fighting that battle.

The 11th Circuit panel made a grievous error at a most fundamental error. A former president is in no way similarly situated to lay people subject to a search warrant when the subject of the search and the purported “criminal probe” are records of his official acts. Treating a President as if he is similarly situated to an ordinary lay person is such an egregious legal error, a properly functioning SCOTUS should have no problem reversing this.

    From
    Your voice to Gods ears…
    But our SCOTUS?

    Very doubtful, very doubtful indeed

    healthguyfsu in reply to Juris Doctor. | December 1, 2022 at 10:55 pm

    This is exactly what I was thinking.

    There seems to be a lot of pretzel logic actually.

    It was an absolute emergency that the government get all of these broad warrant seizures, but there is no urgency on behalf of the plaintiff to retain them?

    It’s especially urgent considering they didn’t allow for a representative to be present while everything they took could be documented and inventoried by a third party. Because of their improper execution of the warrant, we only have the word of the agents that the agents acted in good faith (while their execution of the warrant would reasonably suggest that they did not act in good faith).

      randian in reply to healthguyfsu. | December 2, 2022 at 2:27 pm

      we only have the word of the agents that the agents acted in good faith

      This isn’t new, FBI agents routinely destroy original video and audio recordings of suspect interviews and offer transcripts of the same to the courts, who accept the agent’s word that the transcript accurately reflects what was actually said. If you or I did that it would be felony destruction of evidence. I assume this is why no FBI agent will allow you to make your own recording of an interview, which suggests such transcripts are often blatant forgeries or otherwise egregiously slanted. If they were not why would they care if an independent recording was made?

    OwenKellogg-Engineer in reply to Juris Doctor. | December 2, 2022 at 4:20 am

    I wonder if this would have been any different if it had been Hillary…….

    paracelsus in reply to Juris Doctor. | December 2, 2022 at 10:16 am

    The sooner the better

    WarrenPeese in reply to Juris Doctor. | December 2, 2022 at 10:20 am

    Those “records of his official acts” don’t belong to Trump, they’re the property of the American people, made only worse by his possession of records with classified markings. He’s no longer president. His security clearance went away with his job.

      His security clearance did not go away with his job.
      His need to know went away with his job, and therefore his access.

        WarrenPeese in reply to GWB. | December 2, 2022 at 12:01 pm

        False. Trump didn’t have a security clearance before going into the job and doesn’t have one ever since he’s been out of that job, but he is obligated under law to not disclose his knowledge of information that’s classified or involves our national security. He was given the courtesy of security briefings in his post-presidency, until Biden yanked it.

          Do you deal with security clearances? I do.

          CommoChief in reply to WarrenPeese. | December 2, 2022 at 12:31 pm

          All former POTUS receive occasional briefings on highly classified matters. They retain an extremely high clearance when they leave office while receiving those briefs. At this point the Biden WH has probably revoked the breeds and the clearance which is within their authority to grant or withhold.

      Juris Doctor in reply to WarrenPeese. | December 2, 2022 at 2:07 pm

      You are incorrect. The are the exclusive property of Trump for the first 12 years.

      Specifically, the PRA allows for public access to Presidential records, including through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), beginning five years after the end of the Administration, but allows the President to invoke as many as six specific restrictions to public access for up to twelve years.

      chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.archives.gov/files/guidance-on-presidential-records-from-the-national-archives-and-records-administration-2020.pdf

It should be very clear to everyone that the federal govt is the enemy of America and all Americans. It has been for two decades at least. Unless Americans find their courage and decide to act more 1776ish, the tyranny will continue at a faster and faster rate.

“This appeal requires us to consider whether the district court had jurisdiction to block the United States from using lawfully seized records in a criminal investigation. The answer is no.”

Ok, I’m not a lawyer, but… isn’t this arguing a point not in evidence? NOBODY is arguing that the DOJ cannot use lawfully seized records in a criminal investigation. That’s a moot point. The point they’re arguing is that the records seized are NOT germane to a criminal investigation. The FBI has proven itself to be an unreliable determiner of the distinction in that it already has turned documents and items back that it had seized *despite* having a supposed professional team on site that was supposed to catch things like At/Client priv. docs. This is precisely the point that the Special Master was brought in to adjudicate since the FBI has proven so lacking in that regard.

Then the appeals court washes their hands of the matter and declares they don’t have jurisdiction, but STILL overrules the local judge. Let this go to the Supremes. I suspect some of the justices there will smack the appeals court around like a red rubber ball.

    Dimsdale in reply to georgfelis. | December 2, 2022 at 7:28 am

    Between things like this and some of those evidence trials during the 2020 election, there seem to be a lot of judges claiming “no standing” and washing their hands of any responsibility to make judgements or set aside their own biases.

    When a decision or action by a judge becomes politically predictable, the law fails.

    WarrenPeese in reply to georgfelis. | December 2, 2022 at 11:21 am

    But that’s the problem. Trump’s lawyers didn’t make the case under Richey, and none of the judges–including Cannon–said there was anything wrong with the warrant. Aside from his passports, which were returned, and other strictly personal items, Trump’s lawyers don’t get to determine what is germane or not germane to the case.

Fromage Du Nord | December 2, 2022 at 3:23 am

So, as ususal, Trump’s arguments about government abuse and malfesance was dismissed, by the Governmnet, not on the merits, but on procedural or jurisdictional grounds.

Saw this was coming, They are going to seal up any Jan6 information to not be able to be released by any Republicans in 2023

    scooterjay in reply to Skip. | December 2, 2022 at 8:31 am

    It is anal opticalitis the democrats are suffering from.
    They can’t see their asses removed from power.

Steven Brizel | December 2, 2022 at 8:13 am

Is en banc review by the full court and or by SCOTUS an option for Trumo?

The Supreme Court won’t touch it and if by chance they do they will not find in President Trumps favor

Bunch of clowns

Trump isn’t denied recourse, per the per curiam ruling: “To the extent that the categorization of these documents has legal relevance in future proceedings, the issue can be raised at that time.”

    Ah, the good old “presumed guilty until proven innocent” routine by the DOJ. Let me draw a rough parallel. Bob’s Diner is in a dispute with Senator Whatshisface over an unpaid bar bill when the FBI raids his place of business *and* house. They take every scrap of paper, every menu, every computer, every table mat, half the chairs, the floor mats, his library, and his correspondence with a lawyer regarding a separate legal issue. They take his diary, his unfinished fantasy novel, his passport, and every video game in his cabinet. Bob goes to court and says “Hey! I want my stuff back!” FBI says “Tough, it’s evidence” Judge says “Not all of this. I’m appointing somebody to wade through the mess and filter out anything that might actually be criminal” Bob proposes somebody, FBI agrees on their qualifications….then promptly runs behind the court’s back to wail at a different court, which comes back and says “Nope, what the FBI took they can keep until judgement day or whenever they put together a case, whichever comes first.”

    Bob goes to the Supreme Court <– We are here.

      Mob with pitchforks and torches burns down the Hoover Building <- We should be here, arguably.

      WarrenPeese in reply to georgfelis. | December 2, 2022 at 11:24 am

      “Guilty until proven innocent” has nothing to do with the 11th Circuit ruling, and you’re grossly overstating what was spelled out in the warrant.
      Also, the materials didn’t belong to Trump anyway, except for passports (which were returned) and perhaps some other doodads.

        alaskabob in reply to WarrenPeese. | December 2, 2022 at 11:48 am

        But they were vacuumed up with everything else. The was not a directed search warrant. This was not obtaining evidence of a specific crime but looking for a crime… and Ifear creating “corroborative” evidence. This is Leviathan in action.

          WarrenPeese in reply to alaskabob. | December 2, 2022 at 12:06 pm

          False. DOJ had probable cause that Trump still possessed classified documents, which was borne out by the search. The warrant itself was specific about what the FBI was allowed to take. That Trump commingled passports and other personal doodads in boxes that also contained presidential records and classified documents in is on Trump.

          northerner777 in reply to alaskabob. | December 2, 2022 at 4:23 pm

          Wait, was there not a meeting between the government and the former President’s staff last June wherein the FBI was fully shown what was in that document storage room? Were they not offered to take whatever they thought appropriate and also asked about any additional security for the materials? Didn’t the FBI tell the staff to secure the room which they did? And didn’t the FBI when it returned with the bogus search warrant break the lock they told the staff to install instead of asking it be opened? And then the FBI wiped the room clean of everything the decided was OK to be there? And we’re not supposed to think that this whole scenario is bullshit? We the People are in deep trouble. The once mostly trustworthy Criminal Justice System is now weaponized against the citizens it was designed to protect.

          malclave in reply to alaskabob. | December 2, 2022 at 7:44 pm

          “That Trump commingled passports and other personal doodads in boxes that also contained presidential records and classified documents in is on Trump.”

          Or in separate boxes in the same room.

        What keeps being skipped in this is that Trump, like every other Ex-President was receiving classified briefings regularly. In a SCIF in his house. Like every other ex-president has. All containing classified documents. No biggie. Then Biden stopped his briefings and de-commissioned his SCIF, leaving the docs in place, in a now declassified room. Enter FBI, asking him to keep the secured, then the warrant and break-in. This was another contrived event.

          CommoChief in reply to venril. | December 2, 2022 at 5:26 pm

          It was a secure room with perimeter security on the grounds from private security. When DJT was present he had Secret Service presence as well. Probably had off duty police presence as well as routine LEO ride by. That ain’t a SCIF, if it was then there would have been no reason for the request to add an additional barrier lock in May.

      What’s on the menu at Bob’s. BTW, Thanks for the clear explanation.

Shouldn’t the Feds start anonymously leaking curated info and docs to the NYT? C’mon, … this isn’t Hunter’s laptop. Let the leakage begin!

When can we expect the Feds to raid DeSantis? Surely, DOJ can find a FL Magistrate to sign a very broad warrant in order to protect our blue Democracy!

    Trumps tax returns have been handed over to the House Dems. The question is not “Will they break the law and leak them to their pals in the media” but when.

So, essentially, agencies and courts not created or mentioned in the Constitution are now above that document by virtue of “national security”, something they themselves define. The lower courts, the DOJ, and the intelligence agencies, all created by Congress, are now above the Congress that created them, and thus above the people that created the Congress. We are worse than a banana Republic. We are approaching police state status.

    CommoChief in reply to Longplay. | December 2, 2022 at 12:42 pm

    When the warrant is signed off the party is over. The prosecution has managed to convince a judge or magistrate that the scope of the warrant isn’t an illegal ‘general warrant’.

    That holds true for every issuance of a warrant. The check in the system against an aggressive prosecutor is that Judge or Magistrate. IMO this warrant was way too broad but the only opinion that really counts is that of the Magistrate who signed off.

    It sucks but that’s the reality of everyone facing off with the DoJ. The actions are literally titled The United States of America v X Person. Read it again and think about what that implies. The entirety of the US govt v an individual. The DoJ wins 90%+ of the time for very good reason, the odds are stacked in their favor.

    northerner777 in reply to Longplay. | December 2, 2022 at 4:50 pm

    My same point in my comment to alaskabob above. The FBI was asked if they wanted anything in that room in question and how to secure it. Assuming they took what they deemed appropriate to return to the government then ordered the room be locked. A lock was installed. Then months later they storm the residence break the lock and empty the room they had opportunity to take items from previously. They do the exact opposite of their previous instructions and inspections and demand security cameras be turned off. And I’ll add that it was determined in another administration that a President has the ultimate authority to declassify documents. If a President states a document is declassified, it’s declassified. The FBI was given the opportunity to remove questioned documents and did not. Indeed, we are a banana republic heading towards a police state. Except the police of the police state are not our local police who sadly are rendered powerless by state legislators downgrading felonies to misdemeanors making very difficult to get convictions by courts for repeat offenders. Hence our burgeoning crime rates in nearly all communities. The police of the police state are our once trustworthy Federal law enforcement agencies now weaponized against US instead of criminals. This is not going to end well if this continues.

The 11th circuit answers to SCOTUS. There’s another shot to be fired.

BierceAmbrose | December 3, 2022 at 2:37 pm

Who’s writing rules here? Even rule-making agencies tag up on delegated congressional authority, which in principle tags up on

‘We cannot write a rule…

“Nor can we write a rule…

A Judicial administrative state working with an administrative apparatus is The French Way, n’est pas? (Oh, that’s right. Judicial decisions look to external and international laws for guidance, not to our own. So said various of The Supremes, out loud, in written decisions, concurrences, and dissents.

BierceAmbrose | December 3, 2022 at 2:52 pm

‘Either approach would be a radical reordering of our caselaw limiting the federal courts’ involvement in criminal investigations.”

Since when is convenience of ordering of caselaw(sic) the important thing?

The cranky libertarian in me says: “More friction to their Authoritah!”

The Self-governing Citizen in me says: “That seems a bit arbitrary boot on the neck-y for governing themselves to our advantage.”

The citizen here and now says: “Really? This is what you’re on about? And that’s OK? How about finding something better to do — ye feebs, and looking for ways to keep them on useful point — ye robed eminences?”