October 5, 2022.
A federal appeals court agreed with the Justice Department's request to speed up its consideration of whether a special master should have been appointed to review the documents the DOJ seized at Mar-A-Lago.
The Mar-A-Lago resort was owned by former President Donald Trump.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the DOJ and Trump to submit their legal briefs to the court by November 17.
The DOJ asked the appeals court to expedite its consideration of the special master's appointment on Friday, arguing that dragging the case out would hurt the agency's investigation into former President Donald Trump bringing government documents to Mar-A-Lago.
If the court proceedings get stretched out, the DOJ cannot possibly be prejudiced, as Trump's attorneys argued that they didn't have enough time to file their brief.
The 11th Circuit's schedule is slightly later than what the DOJ wanted, as they wanted the briefings to end by November 11, and sooner than what Trump wanted.
The 11th Circuit may rule on the case before Dearie, the third-party special master, can complete his review by the December 16 deadline. If the court rules in the DOJ's favor before the deadline, it will end the review and allow the DOJ to continue its investigation unimpeded. The court could only partially rule in favor of the DOJ if it ruled that the special master should have been appointed.
Two weeks after DOJ investigators searched Mar-A-Lago, Trump asked a federal judge to appoint a third-party special master. A special master was granted in the case by the district judge after the DOJ objected. The government couldn't use the documents until the review was done. Dearie was appointed at the Trump team's request, but he has so far challenged Trump and his attorneys, setting a quick schedule for the review and asking them to back up claims the ex-president has made on social media. Cannon granted Trump a reprieve from having to answer those tough questions in court, overruled Dearie and ordered that his attorneys don't have to say if the DOJ actually took documents from Mar-A-Lago. The DOJ has to wait longer before it can review the nonclassified documents due to the order that made it easier for Trump's attorneys to shield documents under executive privilege.
On Tuesday, Trump asked the Supreme Court to partially block the 11th Circuit's order that allowed Dearie to see the classified documents. The ex-president is not trying to stop the DOJ from having them. The separate classified documents decision is not related to the appeal at issue. The DOJ has been asked by the Supreme Court to weigh in on the case by October 11.
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The special master appeal hearing will be pushed to January.
The feds want to fast-track their appeal in the Mar-a-Lago documents fight.
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