The Supreme Court on Oct. 13 turned down a request from former President Donald Trump related to records that were seized by FBI agents from his Florida estate.
Trump filed an emergency application to vacate a stay entered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. That stay is preventing both Trump’s lawyers and the special master in the case from accessing all of the records with classified markings.
Justice Clarence Thomas, a George H.W. Bush appointee, referred the application to the full court. The court announced on Oct. 13 that it was denying the request.
The court didn’t list how each justice voted on the request nor the final vote tally.
Applications are directed to a certain justice, with each justice being responsible for one or more appeals courts. Those justices can then rule on the application themselves or refer the application to the full court for consideration.
Four criteria must be satisfied for a court to grant a stay, including that irreparable harm will result from the denial of a stay and that, upon review, the full court will decide the decision being challenged was erroneous.
After FBI agents raided Mar-a-Lago in August, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, inserted U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie, a Reagan appointee, as a third-party special master to review the materials and help adjudicate disputes over privilege and other matters.
Agents seized about 100 records with classified markings from Mar-a-Lago, as well as roughly 11,200 nonclassified materials, according to the latest inventory lists from the government.
While the appeals court ruling blocked Trump’s attorneys and Dearie from viewing the materials marked classified, the government still had to produce copies of the nonclassified records to the lawyers and the special master. That process has been completed, a lawyer for the government informed Cannon on Oct. 12.
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