This is so vexatious, but before you throw your digital device on the ground and stomp on it, at least the delay is minimal. Oral arguments will be heard November 30, which is not that bad. Washington Post:
The order came after U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of Washington on Tuesday cleared the way for handover of documents to a House investigative committee, ruling that an ex-president’s claim to a residual right to withhold records from Congress after leaving office does not continue in perpetuity.
“Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President,” Chutkan wrote. […]
In a 15-page emergency motion filed Thursday, Trump’s attorneys asked to keep the documents secret for now, and proposed that all sides brief the court by next week on whether to keep them so for the weeks or months an appeal may take to decide. Trump’s legal team said the case presented serious, novel questions about whether a former president can sue a successor to withhold government records from Congress, and that the institution of the presidency would be irreparably harmed if the documents were released beginning Friday as planned.
“The disagreement between an incumbent President and his predecessor from a rival political party highlights the importance of executive privilege and the ability of Presidents and their advisers to reliably make and receive full and frank advice, without concern that communications will be publicly released to meet a political objective,” Trump attorney Jesse R. Binnall wrote.
Let’s try to see this as a speedbump and not get too upset. The wheels of justice grind exceedingly slow but grind they do. Let’s see what Trump’s lawyers have got and if new law is about to be made. Or, if they’ve already accomplished their mission of obfuscation and delay, which is the Occam’s Razor analysis to this.
It’s reportedly an administrative injunction, not a decision on the merits. The panel is also unlikely to go with the former guy unless he has good arguments.
The courts need to stay out of this and let it be settled between the other two CO-EQUAL branches of government.