Looks like Robert Mueller is headed to the Supreme Court – and there’s already drama
This week the long-running, top-secret appeals court battle involving Special Counsel Robert Mueller has finally come to a head. The court sided with Mueller, ruling that the foreign government owned corporation must cough up the evidence Mueller is seeking. The court then quickly shot down a followup motion filed by the corporation. Now indications are that it’s headed for the Supreme Court.
When the followup motion was denied, Palmer Report explained that there were two possibilities. One was that the corporation asked for a re-hearing and was denied, which would still leave it with the option of asking for an en banc hearing involving all the eligible judges in the building. The other possibility was that the corporation asked for an en banc hearing and was denied, which would leave it with only one option: the Supreme Court. Turns out it’s the latter.
It turns out the corporation has asked Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to block the appeals court ruling, and to hold a Supreme Court hearing. Bloomberg has figured out that the case in question is in fact now on the Supreme Court docket. That said, not all items one the Supreme Court docket end up being heard, so this doesn’t necessarily mean that Roberts has blocked anything, or that the high court will actually take up the case.
The question, of course, is how the Supreme Court will end up ruling if it does decide to hear this case. While there are currently five conservative Justices, this is not a liberal vs conservative ideological issue. Instead this will come down to how each Justice views the specific legal matter at hand, which is a foreign corporation asking to be allowed to ignore United States law. We don’t know how such a vote would go, or if it will even take place. But it’s worth pointing out that Robert Mueller has won essentially every court ruling in the Trump-Russia probe to date, so we like his chances.
