Latest

One justice stands alone: Supreme Court rules 8-1 to allow January 6 committee access to Trump

January 20, 2022 | | Print Article

Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE

Former President Donald Trump suffered a devastating defeat Wednesday as the Supreme Court voted overwhelmingly to not block the Jan. 6th committee from obtaining 700 pages of Trump era White House documents.

The Jan. 6th committee, which is comprised primarily of Democrats, has sought to obtain documents that might shed more light on the behind-the-scenes activities that occurred at the White House before and during the Jan. 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The former president has in turn tried citing executive privilege to block the National Archives from releasing the documents to the committee.

Trump’s efforts have proved to be mostly unsuccessful, with the latest ruling prior to the Supreme Court’s intervention this week having been issued last month when a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against him.

The appeals court argued that Trump had provided no justification for why a decision eked out between members of Congress and current President Joe Biden, who’s granted his approval vis-a-vis the document release, should be discounted.

“On the record before us, former President Trump has provided no basis for this court to override President Biden’s judgment and the agreement and accommodations worked out between the Political Branches over these documents,” the court ruled.

“Both Branches agree that there is a unique legislative need for these documents and that they are directly relevant to the Committee’s inquiry into an attack on the Legislative Branch and its constitutional role in the peaceful transfer of power.”

In Wednesday’s ruling, an 8-1 majority of the high court chose to essentially stamp their approval on this lower court ruling, meaning the battle is officially over and there is no other legal recourse for the Trump team.

In fact, as of late Wednesday, the Jan. 6th committee had already begun to receive Trump era White House documents from the National Archives.

The statement seen above was reportedly written by committee chair Bennie Thompson, a Democrat, and committee vice chair Liz Cheney, a supposed Republican.

The documents they have begun to receive include “presidential diaries, schedules, call logs, handwritten notes, drafts of speeches and correspondence, proposed talking points, ‘a draft Executive Order on the topic of election integrity,’ a memo about potential legal action the federal government could take to challenge President Joe Biden’s wins in key states (the Justice Department filed no such case), and an email chain that involved a state official ‘regarding election-related issues,'” according to BuzzFeed News.

Only Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas opposed the high court’s ruling Wednesday, though he offered no reason as to why.

His mere opposition triggered a whirlwind of left-wing fury on Twitter, with anti-Trump zealots smearing him and his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, and demanding that he retire or be forcefully booted off the court for dissenting.

Look (*Language warning):

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was appointed to his post by Trump, meanwhile agreed with the majority opinion but included a note pushing back on the lower appeals court’s suggestion that Trump’s status as a former president was relevant to the case.

“The Court of Appeals suggested that a former President may not successfully invoke the Presidential communications privilege for communications that occurred during his Presidency, at least if the current President does not support the privilege claim. As this Court’s order today makes clear, those portions of the Court of Appeals’ opinion were dicta and should not be considered binding precedent going forward,” he wrote.

He basically made the case that the final ruling would have been the same even if Trump were president right now. Though to be fair, if Trump were president right now, the Jan. 6th riot would have never occurred, no?

Vivek Saxena
Latest posts by Vivek Saxena (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles