Supreme Court rules against House Dems
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily blocked the House Democrats’ attempt to politicize the secret grand jury testimony of Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
The Democrats have asked the Department of Justice under William Barr to provide an unredacted copy of the final Mueller report. Barr contends that the redactions protect the secrecy inherent in the grand jury system.
The temporary order will prevent details of grand jury testimony getting into the hands of Trump opponents until sometime in the summer, if ever. The Democrats are looking for other impeachable offenses to hang on the president and the GOP before the November elections.
On the one hand, Democrats have argued that there is a compelling public interest in the testimony; on the other hand, the Trump White House is arguing that release of otherwise secret testimony would cause him irreparable harm to Trump since a review of the matter is still pending before the D.C. Circuit Court.
Irreparable harm to the president is probably the intention of the Democrats.
At issue is one of the key safeguards of our Republic.
Michael Foster, legislative attorney for the Congressional Research Service, explains: “One long-established principle that has been deemed essential to the grand jury’s functioning and independence is that matters occurring before it are to be kept secret. Secrecy prevents those under scrutiny from fleeing or importuning the grand jurors, encourages full disclosure by witnesses, and protects the innocent from unwarranted prosecution.”
Foster says that the grand jury acts as a kid of buffer between citizen and the government as it is independent of all branches of the government although the courts have a supervisory role.
Both sides of the aisle are having at in on Twitter with Donald Trump Jr. pointing to one of the lead prosecutors in the Mueller investigation, Andrew Weissmann, because Weissmann’s having a swanky fundraiser for Joe Biden.
“Nothing says ‘it wasn’t a witch-hunt’ quite like doing fundraisers with the partisan hack leading the investigation!” tweets Donald Trump Jr.
Not to be outdone, Mueller, She Wrote Podcast tweeted: “As predicted, SCOTUS grants the stay blocking Mueller grand jury materials while they weigh the appeal. I don’t understand why the court grants EVERY STAY for trump. Is it for actual legal reasons or is this court bought and paid for?”
So depending on who you trust it’s either a diabolical plot to ruin Trump by any means necessary or an attempt by the GOP to buy justice.
SCOTUS is likely trying to keep the issue from boiling over before the November elections where most things get resolved.
It might be a growing trend.
“As long as I’m attorney general, the criminal justice system will not be used for partisan political ends,” Attorney General William Barr about his decision not to wantonly pursue charges in the Obamagate scandal, “and this is especially true for the upcoming elections in November.”
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