US Supreme Court Rejects Donald Trump's Request To Keep Records Of The Capitol Hill Attack
JAKARTA - The United States Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a request by former President Donald Trump to block the release of White House records sought by a Democratic-led Congressional panel investigating last year's deadly attack on Capitol Hill, Washington DC by supporters.
The ruling means documents held by federal agencies that hold government records and history can be disclosed including as litigation on the matter continues in lower courts.
Trump's request to the judge came after the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled on December 9 that the businessman-turned-politician had no basis to challenge President Joe Biden's decision to allow the records to be submitted to a committee set by the US House of Representatives.
Democrat Bennie Thompson, chair of the panel and Republican Liz Cheney, vice chair, in a statement called the Supreme Court's action "a victory for the rule of law and America's democracy." The committee has begun receiving some of the documents Trump hopes to withhold, they added.
A Trump spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the Supreme Court refusal.
Former President Donald Trump and his allies have waged an ongoing legal battle with the committee over trying to block access to documents and witnesses.
Donald Trump is seeking to enforce a legal principle known as executive privilege, which protects the confidentiality of some internal White House communications, a stance rejected by lower courts.
The Supreme Court's brief order noted that the tough question of whether the former president could file an executive privilege claim did not need to be answered to settle the case.
"As the appeals court concluded President Trump's claim would fail even if he were the incumbent, his status as a former president certainly makes no difference to the court's decision," the unsigned order said.
Only one of the court's nine members, conservative Judge Clarence Thomas, publicly disagreed with the decision.
Meanwhile, the US House Committee said it needed the record to understand any role Trump might have played in fomenting the violence that occurred on January 6, 2021.
His supporters stormed Capitol Hill in a failed attempt to prevent the US Congress from officially legalizing Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 Presidential Election.
The committee has asked the National Archives, which maintains Trump's White House records, to maintain visitor records, telephone records and written communications between his advisers.
President Biden, who took office two weeks after the unrest, has determined that the records, which belong to the executive branch, should not be subject to executive privilege and submitting them to Congress is in the best interest of the nation.
In contrast, Donald Trump has argued that he could invoke executive privilege, based on the fact that he was president at the time even though he is no longer in office.
US District Judge Tanya Chukan on November 9 rejected Trump's argument, saying she did not recognize 'respect' for Biden's determination that the committee could access the records and added, "The President is not the king, and the Plaintiff is not the President."
To note, the elected committee consists of seven Democrats and two Republicans. The Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump, but has not always accepted his request.
The court last year rejected his request to block disclosure of his tax records as part of a criminal investigation in New York and also rejected efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election.