Supreme Court will hear arguments over Mueller's secret evidence, a delay for House Democrats invest

[sl8]

Source: Washington Post

By Robert Barnes
July 2, 2020 at 9:52 AM EDT

The Supreme Court on Thursday dealt a significant blow to House Democrats' efforts to have access to secret grand jury material from Robert S. Mueller III's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, saying it would decide next term whether Congress is authorized to see the material.

The decision to hear the case next fall means the House Judiciary Committee cannot have access to the material before the election. A lower court ruled this spring that the committee was entitled to see the previously withheld material from Mueller's probe, which also investigated whether President Trump obstructed the special counsel's work.

It is unlikely there could be a Supreme Court decision even before the end of the current congressional term in January.

Solicitor General Noel Francisco had told the Supreme Court it should decide for itself the "significant separation of powers" issues raised in the case. Despite the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Congress has no need for the information, Francisco wrote in a brief to the court.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-will-hear-arguments-over-muellers-secret-evidence-a-delay-for-house-democrats-investigating-president-trump/2020/07/02/ca91bc18-bc62-11ea-80b9-40ece9a701dc_story.html

[helpisontheway]

1. Figures this would happen..nt 🙄

[bluestarone]

2. Total BULLSHIT!

[Laelth]

3. Depressing news. n/t

-Laelth

[old guy]

4. Anything to protect tRump.

[sl8]

5. Brief case summary from Amy Howe, SCOTUSBlog

https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/07/court-will-take-up-dispute-over-secret-materials-from-mueller-report/

Court will take up dispute over secret materials from Mueller report

Posted Thu, July 2nd, 2020 10:26 am by Amy Howe

This morning the Supreme Court issued orders from the justices’ private conference yesterday. The justices added another high-profile case to their docket for the fall, involving a dispute over efforts by members of Congress to obtain secret materials from the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller submitted a report last year to Attorney General William Barr on possible Russian interference in the 2016 election, and Barr released a redacted version of that report in April 2019. In July 2019, the House Judiciary Committee went to federal court in Washington, D.C., seeking an order that would require the disclosure of the redacted portions of the Mueller report, as well as grand jury transcripts and materials that had been kept secret, for use in its impeachment investigation. The committee relied on a provision in a federal rule of criminal procedure that allows a court to authorize the disclosure of grand jury materials that would otherwise be kept secret “in connection with a judicial proceeding.”

The district court granted the committee’s request to have access to the parts of the report redacted under grand jury secrecy rules, as well as the related grand jury materials, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld that order. The government went to the Supreme Court in May, asking the justices to block the release of the grand jury materials until it could file its petition for review of the D.C. Circuit’s decision; otherwise, the government contended, it would have to hand the materials over, lifting the veil of secrecy and potentially rendering any future proceedings in the dispute meaningless. On May 20, the justices put the disclosure of the materials on hold, and today they agreed to weigh in. But unless the justices fast-track the oral argument (and there was no indication today that they intend to do so), they are not likely to hear the case until December, after Election Day, with a ruling to follow sometime next year.

This post was originally published at Howe on the Court.

[in2herbs]

16. Is this how they intend to decide trump's tax case, too? Kick the can down the road?? Expand

the court or there's no use working toward change.

[NCjack]

6. Big surprise, because the GOP appointees on the SC are

"working for the man"

[Me.]

7. Not As Bad For Us As It Seems

there's no point in pursuing him while he's in the WH. After he loses however, all bets are off. Will the SC be less anxious to please him and thus give the Dems the ammo they want? Also, while in office he supposedly cannot be prosecuted for anything but when he's out he will be liable.

[brush]

8. The information, if released now, would undoubtedly affect the election...

negatively for trump it appears. Or why else would the repug-dominated Supreme Court delay it's release?

We can still win but a release now would help Biden widen his lead and thus make the election not so close.

[Me.]

9. Biden Will Win

and the Menace will be in jeopardy

[Igel]

19. Makes the assumption that what's secret

would be immediately leaked with impunity.

While I suspect it's true, it's also quite the insult.

[brush]

23. I don't get what you mean. If it's released it won't be secret.

[still_one]

18. +++

[Faux pas]

10. And

the shit just keeps getting deeper.

[BlueIdaho]

11. Can a new Administration & AG

Choose to simply hand over the evidence?

[BarbD]

12. Excellent question.

[lagomorph777]

15. I would think so, if Barr hasn't destroyed it.

[Miguelito Loveless]

13. Whoever has access to the notes

needs to leak them. The fate of the Republic is at stake.

[lagomorph777]

14. SCROTUS needs to be a campaign issue. Time to expand the court.

Judicial activism needs to be stopped.

[dalton99a]

17. +1

[lark]

20. Russian Repug SCOTUS (in)justices throwing out the constitution in favor of fascists.

When it comes to politics and parties, they are the most partisan ever and are determined to destroy our constitutional democracy in favor of full on fascism.

[Marthe48]

21. No need to invoke national security

The impeached traitor blabs it all to putin and his other buddies. For his attorneys to even security is a travesty. For the s.c. to even consider hearing any argument about keeping it secret is a joke.

[Nitram]

22. Like this isn't important. If it was Hillary's emails there would have been an expedited rush to

get the evidence out. If there had been any evidence to get out in the first place.

[not_the_one]

24. Cowards.

All this information THE PEOPLE PAID FOR, and HAVE A RIGHT TO, being held up due to "technicalities"... ROBERT MUELLER should leak it!

It IS a technicality if we the people don't have access to what was provided to the court, in time for it to make a difference in deciding the fate of OUR country, ...Oh, but WAIT, no can do, it is strictly on a NEED TO KNOW BASIS, and quite frankly THE PEOPLE are the last ones that need to know that they are being shit upon).

But what do you want to bet Mueller destroyed his ONLY COPY... JUST for this scenario. We pinned our hopes on a charlatan.

Every person who refused to respond to a court ordered subpoena, every person who has data that now can't be seen due to "judicial procedures", are cowards. All of them.

I think the Democratic Party should become the party of ABSOLUTE TRANSPARENCY (with the exception of military maneuvers that are time sensitive).

NO SECRET MEETINGS.

NO CLOSED DOOR SESSIONS.

NO QUID PRO QUO. If the people knew what was being given up, for a DEAL, we wouldn't stand for it.

If the people can't know about what is happening IN OUR NAME, then it OBVIOUSLY SHOULDN'T BE HAPPENING.