Supreme Court to take up dispute over secret Mueller grand jury materials

The Supreme Court agreed to take up a case to decide whether secret grand jury materials from special counsel Robert Mueller's report should be handed over to the Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee.

The high court granted a petition for a writ of certiorari Thursday. The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to review the case, in which the Trump administration seeks to overturn an appeals court ruling ordering it to take the grand jury materials redacted within and underlying the Mueller report and hand it over to Congress.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case during its next term this fall. That means even if they prevail, the House Judiciary Committee will have to wait longer to gain access to the grand jury information, likely after November’s presidential election.

“I am disappointed by the Court’s decision to prolong this case further, but I am confident we will prevail. In every administration before this one, DOJ has cooperated with the Judiciary Committee’s requests for grand jury materials relating to investigations of impeachable offenses. Attorney General Barr broke from that practice, and DOJ’s newly invented arguments against disclosure have failed at every level," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, President Trump and Attorney General Barr are continuing to try to run out the clock on any and all accountability," the New York Democrat added. "While I am confident their legal arguments will fail, it is now all the more important for the American people to hold the President accountable at the ballot box in November.”

Solicitor General Noel Francisco, the Justice Department’s top litigator since 2017, argued in early June that the justices should reverse a lower court decision upheld by an appeals court.

House Democrats filed the lawsuit in July 2019, arguing that grand jury secrecy should not apply because they need it as part of a possible impeachment investigation into Trump. Much of the debate has centered on whether a Senate impeachment trial can be considered a judicial proceeding.

“Both Congress and this Court have made clear that grand-jury secrecy should not be breached outside the expressly enumerated exceptions in Rule 6(e). One of those exceptions allows disclosure preliminarily to or in connection with a judicial proceeding. None allows disclosure in connection with a Senate impeachment trial,” Francisco told the Supreme Court, adding, “In light of the national prominence of this grand-jury investigation, the separation-of-powers concerns raised by the decision below, and the potential damage that decision could inflict on the proper functioning of our grand jury system, this Court’s review is warranted.”

In late May, the Supreme Court put a temporary halt to the appeals court decision telling the Justice Department to hand over the Mueller grand jury information, giving the Trump administration time to file a request for the Supreme Court to take up the case.

This came after the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a 2-1 decision in March, rul... (Read more)

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