The Supreme Court rejected Donald Trump’s request for a review by a special master to examine classified documents taken at Mar-a-Lago by a lower court.
Trump requested that the court vacate the Sept. 21 ruling of the 11th Circuit which allowed the Department of Justice (DOJ), to continue reviewing documents seized at Mar-a-Lago, and the court released its decision without comment on Thursday. The Court’s decision will allow the DOJ to continue its investigation of more than 100 documents that contain classification markings.
In August, Trump filed a motion asking for a special master to be appointed to review documents marked classified or top-secret. In a Sept. 5 ruling, U.S. District Judge Aileen Clinton Cannon granted Trump’s request for a special Master and temporarily blocked further review by the DOJ. The 11th Circuit overturned the decision.
The lawyers for the former president argued in the Supreme Court application that the Special Master’s review during a Biden presidency would help ensure an “intermediary procedural stage to conduct an orderly and transparent review of the seized material.”
CNN reported that the DOJ recommended courts refrain from making decisions on matters involving top secret or classified information. CNN reported that the DOJ requested that the documents be reviewed in order to determine if they could pose a threat to national security.
The FBI agents found 11 sets classified documents inside Mar-a-Lago. They included four sets of top secret documents as well as three sets of secret documents. The DOJ released a highly redacted affidavit on August 26 that revealed that 14 of the 15 boxes retrieved in January by the National Archives and Record Administration contained 184 documents. 25 of these documents were marked “top secret”, 92 were “secret” and 67 had an “confidential” warning.
Trump and his lawyers repeatedly claimed that all documents were classified and stored in “secured storage.”
