January 6th committee asks Supreme Court to reject Trump lawsuit

On Thursday, the House committee investigating the January 6 riot asked the Supreme Court not to take up former President Donald Trump’s lawsuit. Trump filed the lawsuit in the effort to shield his White House records from the committee.

“Although the facts are unprecedented, this case is not a difficult one. [Trump] attempts to overturn the current Presidents reasonable determination that the Select Committee is entitled to three tranches of Presidential records responsive to its request,” said the House committee in a court filing numbering 44 pages.

“To the extent any novel questions linger in the background, this case would be a poor vehicle to address them. This Court’s review is unwarranted, and [Trump’s] petition … should be denied,” the filing continued. 

Last week, the former president had asked the Supreme Court to block the National Archives from handing over any of the records from his time in the White House to the January 6 committee.

Trump made the request after lower courts sided with the House committee. While there is no deadline for the court to act, it is likely to seek out a response from the National Archives before it decides whether to take up the case. 

Trump’s legal team has argued that courts should not have found the investigative committee to have a legitimate legislative reason in seeking the documents.

According to his attorneys, the committee is only attempting to find information that would embarrass the former president, rather than fact-finding. But the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in December that Trump has not given enough evidence that the release of the documents would result in any specific harm.