New court ruling is another major loss for Donald Trump
Palmer Report reported yesterday about how the internet blew up after “President” Donald J. Trump, aka Rocketman, said that the Moon is a part of Mars. All jokes aside, Trump has to be worried that he has become Icarus, flying so close to the sun that Trump might think it is part of Mars as well.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered the government to unseal documents in the secret grand jury fight that has been playing out for quite some time, having at one point reached the Supreme Court of the United States. Pursuant to the court order the federal government must submit its proposed redacted version of the court filings by June 21. The order does not require that the name of the company seeking anonymity be revealed. The order opened by noting, “Given the nature of grand jury proceedings, most of the filings in the case remained under seal. Until now.”
The court granted the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press’ motion to unseal in part. The Reporters Committee had filed an action to unseal records in April of this year, after the mystery corporation lost at the Supreme Court level.
With this recent order – another loss for the Trump administration in the Trump-Russia investigation – we likely will not learn the name of the mystery company unless it leaks out unintentionally. However, the unsealed record and substantial filings should give everyone a glimpse into the country of origin and narrow down who the mystery corporation is and what the nature of the subpoena was. This cannot be good news for Trump, who will be howling at the moon – or just rage tweeting. He will wish he was on the Moon part of Mars.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.