Trump asks Supreme Court to block Jan. 6 committee access to his records

Trump addresses the crowd on Jan. 6, 2021
(Image credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday appealed to the Supreme Court to block the National Archives and Records Administration from handing over documents from his White House to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, USA Today reports.

Trump's lawyers said keeping White House deliberations confidential was crucial for the government to function. "The Constitution, this Court's precedent, and federal statutes invalidate the expansive request at issue here," the lawyers wrote in their 195-page submission to the nation's highest court.

Trump says he has the right to keep the documents secret, citing executive privilege. President Biden has waived executive privilege, saying the committee can see the documents. The New York Times says the showdown "raises novel constitutional questions about the separation of powers and the power of a president no longer in office."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.