SCOTUS Rejects Trump’s Jan 6th Appeal
The Supreme Court has turned down an appeal by Donald Trump on Tuesday in his dispute with the House Select Committee who have sought access to his White House records as part of their investigation into the January 6th attack on the Capitol. The Court’s decision came in a brief unsigned order issued without comment one month after the justices denied Trump’s emergency request to block the transfer of his White House records from the National Archives to the House select committee, a process that began last month. His attorneys had asked the justices to shield the disputed materials from disclosure while they considered his formal appeal. Trump’s lawyers also tried to have the civil suits tossed, insisting that he had “absolute immunity“ in actions related to his term in office. Any claims of immunity from Trump and his associates have been repeatedly denied by President Joe Biden.
Tuesday’s development formally ends Trump’s legal effort to block lawmakers’ efforts to obtain a batch of schedules, call logs, emails, visitor’s logs, and other requested documents that the committee says could illuminate key circumstances surrounding the deadly Capitol riot.
After Trump’s January request was denied, the January 6th House committee began receiving records, a development that the panel’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) hailed as “a victory for the rule of law and American democracy.”
BREAKING: SCOTUS has officially denied Donald Trump's call for Supreme Court review of the Jan. 6 select committee's bid for his White House records.https://t.co/svb9KaPTk9 pic.twitter.com/QUNJkvwKEd
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 22, 2022
“To deny a president immunity from civil damages is no small step,” U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta wrote in his ruling. “The court well understands the gravity of its decision. But the alleged facts of this case are without precedent, and the court believes that its decision is consistent with the purposes behind such immunity.”
SCOTUS does not have formal ethics rules it must follow. We rely on the justices to police themselves. The lesson of Trump's abuses, is that we must move beyond soft norms to preserve the integrity of institutions. This is another example of that need. https://t.co/EALp3VTdTG
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) February 22, 2022
If Trump is ultimately held liable in these civil suits, there’s a very real possibility that he’d have to pay damages from his own pocket, although his track record of stiffing his lawyers and contractors shows otherwise.
Just In: SCOTUS turned away Trump's last appeal to releasing Trump-era records from the Archives to the Jan 6 committee. It was a brief unsigned order issued without comment. This formally ends Trump's effort to stymie release of schedules, WH call logs, emails and other docs.
— Duty To Warn 🔉 (@duty2warn) February 22, 2022