US Supreme Court denies Trump request to block January 6 committee from obtaining presidential records

The US Supreme Court dealt a final blow to former President Donald Trump when it rejected his bid to block the release of some presidential records.

The committee will be able to get four more batches of presidential records from the National Archives and Records Administration.

Steve Vladeck said on January 19 that it would be in 2022.

When the committee requested the documents, Trump asserted executive privilege. The National Archives was authorized to give the materials to Congress, but the Biden White House said it was not in the best interests of the United States.

The first constitutional showdown will test whether a sitting president has the right to overrule their predecessor's assertion of executive privilege.

In November, a federal judge ruled that Biden is not required to honor the privilege that Trump has. The lower court's ruling was affirmed by the US Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, DC.

At the founding, Benjamin Franklin said that if we can keep it, we have a Republic. The events of January 6th exposed the fragility of democratic institutions and traditions that we have come to take for granted.

Both the incumbent president and Congress decided that access to this subset of presidential communication records was necessary to address a matter of great constitutional moment for the Republic.

The ruling said that the court had no reason to cast aside President Biden's assessment of the Executive Branch interests at stake or to create a separation of powers conflict.

Clarence Thomas was the only public dissent in the order rejecting Trump's request to overturn the appeals court ruling and block the January 6 committee from accessing the relevant records.

The justices noted that their order does not answer questions regarding a former president's ability to assert executive privilege, and that such questions are "unprecedented" and "raise serious and substantial concerns."

The Supreme Court order said that President Trump's status as a former President did not affect the court's decision.