The Supreme Court put a temporary halt on court rulings that would have granted a House committee access to grand jury secrets in special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report, Politico reports. The court granted a Trump administration request to delay those decisions while the justices consider whether to take up the case, which raises questions about when judges may release grand jury information that usually is kept confidential. The move raised the possibility that even if the House prevails, it won’t gain access to the full, unedited Mueller report until after President Donald Trump faces voters in November.
The Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee asked a judge for access to information the Justice Department withheld when it made most of Mueller’s report public. House members said the committee needed the uncut report as part of its impeachment investigation of Trump, but that process went forward. Most of the redactions pertain to alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell granted the committee’s access request. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit voted, 2-1, to uphold Howell’s ruling. The panel ruled that the House’s request qualified under an exception in court rules that permits disclosure of grand jury information as part of a judicial proceeding. The judges accepted a House argument that the theoretical possibility of another impeachment was enough to qualify. The Supreme Court typically grants review in cases in which it issues a stay.