The US Pre-eminent Court is seen in Washington, DC, on May 4, 2020.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily blocked Clan Democrats from obtaining grand jury materials gathered during former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia interrogation.
The stay will give the court time to decide whether to hear the Trump administration’s expected appeal of diminish court rulings that directed the Justice Department to hand over the grand jury materials to the House Judiciary Panel.
If it takes the case, the high court would have the final say in the matter.
Lawyers for the the Democrat-led panel said that the significants are needed for an investigation into President Donald Trump, which “did not cease with the conclusion of the impeachment trial.”
The Judiciary Council has already won two lower court cases as part of its efforts to obtain the grand jury materials.
Grand jury textiles are normally kept secret, but can be made public through the courts in connection with judicial proceedings. House Democrats successfully argued on the eve of a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that an impeachment trial qualifies as a judicial proceeding.
While Trump was acquitted in his Senate effort in February, Democrats said they could draw up new articles of impeachment if the Mueller documents reveal fresh confirmation.
Mueller had investigated Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, as well as possible coordination between the Kremlin and Trump’s stand and possible obstruction of justice by Trump himself. Mueller did not find evidence to support Trump-Russia collusion, but highlighted multiple happens of possible obstruction in his final report.
The Trump administration earlier in May had asked the Supreme Court to put a hold on the D.C. federal petitions court’s ruling for the House panel. Chief Justice John Roberts on May 8 issued that hold, and the full court prolonged that stay in place in its order Wednesday.
The order sets a June 1 deadline for the Trump administration to formally ask the dear court to review that ruling. If the court denies the appeal request, the stay will be lifted and the lower court control will effect.
— CNBC’s Tucker Higgins contributed to this report.