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THE US SUPREME Court has allowed the release of presidential documents sought by the congressional committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.
The justices have rejected a bid by former president Donald Trump to withhold the documents from the committee until the issue is finally resolved by the courts. Trump’s lawyers had hoped to prolong the court fight and keep the documents on hold.
Following the court’s action, there is no legal impediment to turning over the documents, which are held by the National Archives and Records Administration. They include presidential diaries, visitor logs, speech drafts and handwritten notes dealing with 6 January from the files of former chief of staff Mark Meadows.
The committee has already begun to receive records Trump wanted kept secret, said Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney, the committee chairman and vice chairwoman respectively.
“The Supreme Court’s action tonight is a victory for the rule of law and American democracy,” Thompson and Cheney said in a statement pledging to “uncover all the facts about the violence of 6 January and its causes”.
White House spokesperson Mike Gwin called the ruling “an important step forward” for the investigation “and in ensuring accountability for an unprecedented assault on our democracy and the rule of law”.
The House committee agreed to defer its attempt to get some documents at the request of Joe Biden’s administration. The current administration was concerned that releasing all of Trump’s administration documents sought by the committee could compromise national security and executive privilege.
Alone among the justices, Clarence Thomas said he would have granted Trump’s request to keep the documents on hold.
Trump’s lawyers had asked the high court to reverse rulings by the federal appeals court in Washington and block the release of the records even after Biden waived executive privilege over them.
In an unsigned opinion, the court acknowledged there are “serious and substantial concerns” over whether a former president can win a court order to prevent disclosure of certain records from his time in office in a situation like this one.
But the court noted that the appeals court determined that Trump’s assertion of privilege over the documents would fail under any circumstances, “even if he were the incumbent”.
It said the issue of a former president’s ability to claim executive privilege would have to wait for another day.
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He’s been Tangoed.
@Mick McGuinness: For all the worry about Trump’s appointees being in his pocket, the Supreme Court judges seem to be immune to his shenanigans.
This is not the first time they have ruled against him.
I wonder what the security measures are for a Supreme Court Justice? Given how many times they have ruled against Trump’s lawyers, or refused to hear their case, hard core Trump/MAGA supporters must be inclined to take a dim view of the SCOTUS members.
@David A. Murray: If anyone were to murder any member of SCOTUS at the monent, Biden would be appointing their replacement. You’d have to be pretty stu… to do it, if you’re a MAGA bot. Ah. Right. Yeah. Point taken
@Felicity Rawson: Given the GOP’s tactics under Obama and Trump, I wouldn’t be confident Biden would be ‘allowed’ to select any SCOTUS replacement.
@David A. Murray: Democrats have control of the house and senate (at the moment), the GOP would be powerless to stop an appointment
@Colm O’ Shea: Tell that to Manchin and Sinema…..
@Tricia G: just playing devils advocate, those two are not elected to represent the DEMs, they are voted to represent the people of their districts (which are red/purple). Do their constituents want the same thing as the wider DEM party?
They are stuck in a position where they cant be seen as too liberal as it will alienate their voters and they’ll do themselves out of a job.
@Colm O’ Shea: While that’s technically true, the GOP are (almost entirely) completely shameless in leveraging whatever ‘process’ they can dig up to block how things are supposed to work in Congress, until they then do a complete flip when the timing is right. Rick Wilson recently described Congressional politics in these terms: “The Democrats are playing chess. The GOP are responding by simply eating the playing pieces.”
@David A. Murray: love the quote!! Absolutely agree, Dems are playing by the rules and GOP are trying to change the rules to suit themselves. What shocks me is that the electorate is so entrenched that no one seems to see what they are doing and how it conflicts with their morals.
Would be interested to find out what % of the GOP politicians actually believe what they are saying and what % are taking making cynical calculations
Thought this was a Stephen Hawking article based on the pic!
@Nameo Maximus: why? Cos you’re blind?
@Nameo Maximus: lol, I see the similarity
@alan scott: what similarity? Hawkins was a leading intellect with spasticity, Trump was just a sp- (fill in for yourself)
@James Kerins: Can spot a stable genius a mile away
@Colm O’ Shea: it’s called having a sense of humour. Hawking was a intellect for sure. We are just saying that facial expression looks looked hawkings. Read what I actually said.
It seems you just go though the comments each day to look for a argument and by chance you strolled on mine.
Sorry to burst your bubble pal, but I have way more important things to do then get into a argument. Byeeee
@alan scott: as was mine a joke, not trolling but bye. Toodle pip
Maybe the BOZO LIER MURDERER TRUMP WILL BE IN JAIL SOON
have your say