Jan. 6 committee asks Supreme Court to respond to Trump request by mid-January

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is asking that the Supreme Court respond to former President Trump’s request that the justices block the National Archives from turning over his White House records to the panel by mid-January.

The congressional panel filed an expedition request Thursday evening, hours after the former president appealed to the Supreme Court, contending that any delay in the bench’s decision on whether to block the release of documents from the National Archives would “inflict a serious injury on the Select Committee and the public.”

“The Select Committee needs the requested documents now to help shape the direction of the investigation and allow the Select Committee to timely recommend remedial legislation,” the panel wrote, according to CNN.

The filing asked that the Supreme Court take up Trump’s request during its conference scheduled for Jan. 14, according to CNN. The filing also informed the bench that the panel and Biden administration would submit their responses to Trump’s request by Dec. 30.

The expedition request came hours after Trump filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court requesting that the bench block the National Archives from handing over records from his time in the White House to the select committee, following a number of losses in lower courts.

The request was filed before a Thursday deadline to seek a review that was set by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which rejected a lawsuit from Trump earlier this month.

The former president is arguing that the circuit court’s ruling would create a poor precedent for future disputes pertaining to access to former presidents’ confidential records. He is asking for a temporary order blocking the release of the National Archive documents while the Supreme Court considers whether to take up the case.

“The D.C. Circuit’s opinion endorsed the power of a congressional committee to broadly seek the records of a prior Presidential administration and, as long as the incumbent President agrees to waive executive privilege, gain unfettered access to confidential communications of that administration,” Trump’s filing reads. 

“This troubling ruling lacks any meaningful or objective limiting principle. In an increasingly partisan political climate, such records requests will become the norm regardless of what party is in power. Consequently, this Court’s review is critical,” the filing adds. 

The former president filed a lawsuit against the National Archives and select committee in October, after President Biden waived executive privilege for records from the Trump White House that the investigative panel had requested.