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More than a dozen Republican-led states have filed an amicus brief supporting 45th President Donald Trump amidst a fiery legal battle with the Department of Justice following the FBI’s unprecedented Mar-a-Lago raid last month.
The amicus brief, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, asked the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday to “reject the Administration’s request to stay the district court’s order pending appeal and instead permit this document dispute to proceed before a neutral special master.”
The filing argues that the court should be wary of the Biden administration’s “assertions of good-faith, neutrality, and objectivity” amid their political persecution of President Trump.
The brief states:
“Throughout this litigation the Biden Administration has attempted to trade on the reputation of the Department of Justice and the Intelligence Community to thwart the appointment of a neutral special master. But the district court twice rejected that gambit, and this Court should too.
Amici States have been frequent litigants against the Biden Administration, and they offer this amicus brief to highlight how the Administration’s conduct in connection with this case is of a piece with the gamesmanship and other questionable conduct that have become the hallmarks of its litigating, policy-making, and public-relations efforts.
At a minimum, this Court should view the Administration’s assertions of good-faith, neutrality, and objectivity through jaundiced eyes.
Consequently, this Court should reject the Administration’s request to stay the district court’s order pending appeal and instead permit this document dispute to proceed before a neutral special master.”
Similarly, Trump’s legal team, in a filing Tuesday, asked the court to deny the DOJ’s motion to appeal the order by Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, RSBN reported.
Trump lawyer Christopher Kise argued that the “District Court did not err in temporarily enjoining the Government’s review and use of records bearing classification markings for criminal investigative purposes because the merits support that narrowly tailored injunction.”
The DOJ filed a motion for a stay pending an appeal of the order in the circuit court of appeals after Cannon authorized a special master in the case and struck down a request from the agency to “exclude classified documents from the special master review.” Cannon appointed former federal Judge Raymond Dearie as the special master in the case.
Trump responded to the DOJ’s appeal announcement on Truth Social, stating:
“So now the FBI & Biden Department of ‘Justice’ leakers are going to spend Millions of Dollars, & vast amounts of Time & Energy, to appeal the Order on the ‘Raid of Mar-a-Lago Document Hoax,’ by a brilliant and courageous Judge whose words of wisdom rang true throughout our Nation, instead of fighting the record setting corruption and crime that is taking place right before their very eyes. They SPIED on my Campaign, lied to FISA COURT, told Facebook ‘quiet,’ preside over worst CRIME WAVE ever!!”
