Supreme Court refuses Trump request to block documents from Jan. 6 committee

(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

published 20 January 2022

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected former President Donald Trump's attempt to block the release of records to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Trump's lawyers argued the records from his time in the White House should be protected by executive privilege. The House panel asked for the documents — including drafts of speeches, call and visitor logs, and handwritten notes — in order to gain a clear picture of Trump's actions and mindset before, during, and after the Capitol riot. The records are being kept by the National Archives, and President Biden has said he will not block their release.

In an unsigned order, the Supreme Court said that "the questions whether and in what circumstances a former president may obtain a court order preventing disclosure of privileged records from his tenure in office, in the face of a determination by the incumbent president to waive the privilege, are unprecedented and raise serious and substantial concerns. Because the Court of Appeals concluded that President Trump's claims would have failed even if he were the incumbent, his status as a former president necessarily made no difference to the court's decision."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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