July 2 (UPI) — The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a case in which congressional Democrats are seeking secret materials from the Justice Department’s Russia investigation.
In orders issued by the court, justices added the high-profile case to their docket for the next term, granting a request made the Trump administration in May.
The court’s decision means that unless it fast-tracks oral arguments in the case, the materials sought by Democrats are unlikely to be released until next year.
House Democrats are seeking access to the redacted portions of the report by former special counsel Robert Mueller, who led the investigation. They first went to court a year ago with the intention of using the information as part of their impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.
The investigation searched for potential ties between Russia and members of Trump’s 2016 campaign. Mueller’s report, released 15 months ago, said investigators found no hard evidence of any collusion. It did, however, outline several episodes in which it said Trump may have obstructed justice with attempts to interfere in the inquiry.
Judiciary committee Chair Rep. Jerrold Nadler said last year the House “must have access to all the relevant facts and consider whether to exercise its full Article I powers, including a constitutional duty, power of the utmost gravity, a recommendation of articles of impeachment.”
The committee also sought grand jury transcripts and other materials from Mueller’s investigation that have been withheld by Barr, arguing that federal rules allow courts to authorize disclosures of secret grand jury materials in some instances
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After two federal courts ruled in favor of Democratic lawmakers, the Trump administration petitioned the Supreme Court in May to ask that the materials be withheld until it could appeal the lower court rulings.
