Supreme Court blocks House from seeing secret Mueller investigation materials

The House will have to wait a little longer to see what's inside secret grand jury materials from the Mueller investigation.

The House Judiciary Committee issued an emergency request for the undisclosed files last summer, and Washington, D.C.'s federal appeals court ruled in the committee's favor in March. But the Supreme Court overturned the appeals court's order on Wednesday, likely keeping the materials under wraps through the 2020 election, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Justice Department has tried to keep grand jury testimonies from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation private. But because the investigation had "stopped short" of drawing conclusions about President Trump's conduct and potential obstruction of justice, the appeals court decided the House Judiciary Committee deserved to see the testimonies, The Washington Post notes. A previous court had also ruled in favor of the committee.

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Yet on Wednesday, the Supreme Court agreed with the Justice Department, which had argued the House hasn't indicated it "urgently needs these materials for any ongoing impeachment investigation." The House countered by saying even though Trump's impeachment trial is over, it was essential to see those materials before voters went to the polls this fall.