Donald Trump has suffered an astonishing number of legal setbacks in recent weeks, and unfortunately for the former president, the streak continued this morning. Reuters reported:
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday brought a formal end to former President Donald Trump’s request to block the release of White House records sought by the Democratic-led congressional panel investigating last year’s deadly attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters. The court’s decision to formally reject Trump’s appeal follows its Jan. 19 order that led to the documents being handed over to the House of Representatives investigative committee by the federal agency that stores government and historical records.
While justices will occasionally issue dissents when their colleagues decline to hear a case, there were no such dissents this morning. Trump hoped the justices — three of whom he chose for the bench — would rescue him. They did not.
In case there’s any procedural confusion, the former president and his attorneys filed an emergency appeal last month, asking the high court to intervene and block Congress from receiving the Jan. 6 materials the former president has tried to hide.
About a month ago, the justices turned away that emergency appeal, though Justice Clarence Thomas said at the time that he believed the court should’ve granted the Trump motion.
Today’s outcome, however, was about the underlying case.
For those who may need a refresher about how we arrived at this point, it was in October when the bipartisan House committee requested extensive materials from the White House, prompting Trump to demand absolute secrecy.
In fact, the former president and his team tried to exert “executive privilege” to block the select committee’s requests. As NBC News recently noted, as a matter of tradition, sitting presidents have shielded White House materials at the request of their predecessors. But not this time: President Joe Biden and his team concluded that there were “unique and extraordinary circumstances” surrounding the insurrectionist attack on the Capitol.
Trump and his team sued both the committee and the National Archives, which houses presidential records.
In November, a federal district court ruled against the Republican, reminding him, “Presidents are not kings.” A month later, a unanimous federal appeals court panel came to the same conclusion. It was that ruling that the former president and his lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court, and which the justices have now formally rejected. It was a couple of months ago when Trump appeared on Fox News and was asked about the investigation into the Jan. 6 attacks. “Honestly, I have nothing to hide,” the former president said. That’s great, because as it turns out, the courts have prevented the Republican from hiding Jan. 6 materials from investigators.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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