This is not a great MAGA day, I’ll tell you what. First we find out that Mike Lindell didn’t get his case filed with the Supreme Court, surprise, surprise, and now we find out that the appeals court that agreed to hear oral argument November 30 on Donald Trump’s issue of whether executive privilege can be used to block the release of records from the White House archives pertaining to January 6 will now do so because there’s a jurisdiction issue. NBC News:
Late Tuesday, the appeals court ordered the lawyers in the case to be prepared to address the jurisdiction issue. The fact that the court is wondering about its own authority to take up the case is telling: Courts are typically protective of their jurisdictions.
The court raised this question on its own, meaning that it was not suggested by the lawyers in the case. “Does the provision in the Presidential Records Act providing that the Archivist’s ‘determination whether access to a Presidential record…shall be restricted…shall not be subject to judicial review, except as provided in subsection (e) of this section’…implicate this court’s or the district court’s jurisdiction in this case?”
The court then cited a 2001 case involving a challenge to the plans for the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington. Congress had passed a law saying that no court could review the plans. The challengers argued that the legislative language was unconstitutional, but the appeals court disagreed and tossed the lawsuit.
Tuesday’s order also directed the lawyers to be ready to answer a second question: “If so, what effect, if any, do [those provisions] have on the subject matter jurisdiction of the district court to adjudicate any of the requests listed in the Complaint’s Claim for Relief?”
Lawyers for the former president have argued that the congressional committee had no proper legislative purpose for seeking his White House records and instead launched the investigation to “intimidate and harass President Trump and his closest advisors under the guise of investigating the events of January 6, 2021.”
If the case gets tossed by the appellate court, then presumably the order by the previous judge to go ahead and turn over the material will be upheld. U.S. District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan had ordered that the material be handed over, until the U.S. Court of Appeals granted a brief stay to examine the matter. Maybe their examination will result in a wash for Trump. In all events, November 30 is one week away.
Poor tRumpty Dumpty!! He seems to be falling down a lot lately.