Supreme Court declines to intervene in Donald Trump special master dispute
Washington DC - The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) will not intervene in the fight between the Justice Department and Donald Trump.
![The Supreme Court has declined Donald Trump's request to intervene in his fight against the Department of Justice.](https://media.tag24.de/951x634/y/3/y3l5hir5opga2tircsdrnkjjyhkbf1eb.jpg)
The decision was announced with no dissents, after the Justice Department urged SCOTUS in a filing this week not to weigh in on its ongoing fight with the former president over classified documents.
Last week, Trump asked the Supreme Court to intervene and allow a special master to examine roughly 100 classified records found during the court-approved search of his Florida home in early August.
The Justice Department is investigating alleged retention of classified information, theft of government documents, and obstruction of justice.
The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals had granted an expedited appeal of a federal district judge’s decision to appoint a special master.
The Justice Department has argued that its internal review of documents potentially subject to attorney-client privilege was sufficient and that a special master should not be deciding questions of executive privilege.
Trump’s legal team has argued that the FBI review cannot be trusted and that the probe should be as transparent as possible given the unprecedented search of a former president’s home.
The August 8 court-approved search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was prompted by evidence that Trump had not fully complied with a May subpoena ordering him to turn over any classified documents in his possession.
Agents recovered more than two dozen boxes in the search containing over 200,000 pages. The classified materials include some of the most closely guarded secrets held by the US government.
The Justice Department has said in previous court filings that special investigators with high security clearance had to be brought in to process the evidence.
Cover photo: Collage: REUTERS