DOJ appeals portion of special master decision in Trump case


The Department of Justice on Friday asked an appeals court to restore FBI access to roughly 100 documents taken from former President Donald Trump's Florida mansion, but did not seek to block the appointment of a so-called "special master," or third-party individual, to review other materials, The New York Times reports.
In its filing, the Justice Department requested that the appeals court refrain from submitting the 100-some classified documents to the outside arbiter, but still agreed to hand over thousands of others materials. The department's ask arrives after Judge Aileen Cannon granted Trump's request for a special master, and forbade law enforcement agencies from accessing the thousands of seized documents under investigative circumstances until the special master's review has finished. The department initially asked Cannon to stay the section of her order blocking it from investigating the specific 100 or so files in question, but she denied the request on Thursday.
Officials then decided to try their hand with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, per the Times.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Although the government believes the district court fundamentally erred in appointing a special master and granting injunctive relief," lawyers for the department wrote in their appeal, "the government seeks to stay only the portions of the order causing the most serious and immediate harm to the government and the public."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Succession planning as the Dalai Lama turns 90
In the Spotlight China 'determined to shape the narrative' around choice of Tibet's next spiritual leader
-
AI is creating a luxury housing renaissance in San Francisco
Under the Radar Luxury homes in the city can range from $7 million to above $20 million
-
How carbon credits could help and hurt the climate
The explainer The credits could be allowing polluters to continue polluting
-
The last words and final moments of 40 presidents
The Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't
-
Senate advances GOP bill that costs more, cuts more
Speed Read The bill would make giant cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, leaving 11.8 million fewer people with health coverage
-
Trump's strikes on Iran: a 'spectacular success'?
In Depth Military humiliations 'expose the brittleness' of Tehran's ageing regime, but risk reinforcing its commitment to its nuclear program
-
Will NATO countries meet their new spending goal?
today's big question The cost of keeping Trump happy
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump