Government

SCOTUS Puts The Heisman On Trump's Bid For Classified Docs

Eye roll.

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President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence Visit The Federal Emergency Management Agency Headquarters

(Photo by Evan Vucci-Pool/Getty Images)

The application to vacate the stay entered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on September 21, 2022, presented to Justice Thomas and by him referred to the Court is denied.

With no remarks and no noted dissents, the Supreme Court told Trump to piss off yesterday. The Justices will not be leaping in to force prosecutors to hand over classified documents as part of the special master review process imposed by US District Judge Aileen Cannon. And while it’s less scathing than the slapdown from the Eleventh Circuit, which gutted the trial court’s justification for its own equitable anomalous jurisdiction, the high court’s order is a sign that Trump’s run of getting a whole lot more “due process” than any other subject of a criminal investigation may be coming to an end.

Because from the very moment he filed this preposterous action, Trump’s only justification for his demands has been that he’s the former president, and so he should be treated differently from any other person in the same situation. Describing the execution of a duly predicated warrant as “a shockingly aggressive move — and with no understanding of the distress that it would cause most Americans,” Trump demanded the return of “his” property, including classified documents.

But the demand was totally inchoate. Either from incompetence or because they realized it would be ridiculous to do it during a criminal investigation, Trump’s counsel didn’t file a Rule 41(g) motion for return of property, despite Judge Cannon’s unsubtle hinting that they should. But no matter, the trial court treated Trump’s ranting about “the Russia defamation matter” and demand that government representations be accorded no deference “in light of recent FBI behavior when President Trump is a part of its aim,” as a placeholder for a future Rule 41 motion.

She then ordered the government to disclose all the evidence seized, and deputized Judge Dearie to hear that motion at the conclusion of the special master review. Which is, not to put too fine a point on it, fucking crazy. If a drug dealer hides his stash in the the wheel well of his car, he doesn’t get to demand the return of his seized vehicle before he’s even been criminally charged. And yet, the government has sua sponte returned much of the personal property seized under the terms of the warrant.

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Nobody gets the process Donald Trump has demanded as his due. And so, the Supreme Court’s summary rejection of his claims is a welcome return to normal. And maybe, when the government submits its first brief to the Eleventh Circuit of its broader appeal of the order, we’ll be one step closer to some dude in Florida being treated just like any other person suspected of a crime.

And PS, good thing former Florida Solicitor General Chris Kise got that $3 million retainer upfront.

Trump v. United States [Docket via Court Listener]
Trump v. United States [Supreme Court Docket]

Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

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