Justice Department Files Response to Trump's Supreme Court Request

U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar filed a response in opposition to former President Donald Trump's Oct. 4 application to the Supreme Court for a partial vacatur of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit’s Sept. 21 order. That Eleventh Circuit order partially stayed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon's Sept. 5 order, which, in part, enjoined the government from using materials seized at Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8 for "investigative purposes" until a special master reviewed the documents. The Justice Department sought relief from the Eleventh Circuit when Cannon did not grant a partial stay of her order, and the Eleventh Circuit ruled in favor of the Justice Department on Sept. 21, allowing its use of the materials to restart.

Trump's application to the Supreme Court sought to partially vacate the stay to the extent that it precludes the dissemination and review of approximately 100 classified documents in the special-master proceedings. In the Justice Department's response, Prelogar described Cannon's order as "an unprecedented order by the district court restricting the Executive Branch’s use of its own highly classified records in an ongoing criminal investigation and directing the dissemination of those records outside the Executive Branch for a special-master review." Among other points, Prelogar argued Trump failed to demonstrate irreparable harm due to the partial stay, stating that this in itself would be sufficient to deny the "extraordinary relief" that Trump seeks in the Supreme Court.

You can read the Justice Department's opposition here or below: