US Supreme Court rejects Trump's request to intervene in Mar-a-Lago case

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US Supreme Court rejected former President Donald Trump's request Thursday to intervene in a legal dispute concerning government documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate.

The justices issued a brief one-sentence order denying Trump's request. No dissents were noted.

Trump sought to have a ruling from the 11th US Circuit of Appeals thrown out after the court ruled that an independent arbiter, known as a special master, cannot review more than 100 classified government records seized during the FBI's Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago. The special master was allowed to only review documents that did not bear government classification markings.

The Supreme Court's ruling marks a major victory for the Justice Department, which had asked the court to deny Trump's appeal.

Trump's legal team had sought the Supreme Court's intervention because they argued the appeals court's stay "impairs substantially the ongoing, time-sensitive work of the Special Master."

"Any limit on the comprehensive and transparent review of materials seized in the extraordinary raid of a President’s home erodes public confidence in our system of justice," they wrote in a court filing.

Trump sought to have what is known as a special master appointed to review the trove of 11,000 records seized from Mar-a-Lago, a request granted Sept. 5 by District Judge Aileen Cannon when she appointed Senior Judge Raymond Dearie.

The former president's legal team is seeking to have the special master examine the documents to determine whether any may be covered by what is known as executive privilege.