DOJ urges Supreme Court to deny Trump appeal on classified docs

The Justice Department on Tuesday said President Trump's appeal for the Supreme Court to weigh in on the ongoing Mar-a-Lago probe should be denied.

Driving the news: Trump's legal team previously asked in a filing to the Supreme Court for the special master be allowed to review the near 100 documents marked as classified that were found at Mar-a-Lago.

Catch up quick: Justice Clarence Thomas, who is assigned to oversee emergency requests in the 11th Circuit, had requested the DOJ respond to Trump's petition by 5 p.m. ET on Oct. 11.

• The former president's legal team said the 11th Circuit — which granted the DOJ's request to resume reviewing classified documents — lacked judicial authority to stay the special master's order.
• Trump’s team wants the special master to review the documents marked as classified, which could allow his legal team to potentially argue which documents should be "off-limits to prosecutors in a criminal case," CNN reports.

What they're saying: In the response filed Tuesday, the DOJ said the Supreme Court let stand the federal appeals court order, which blocked the special master’s access.

• "Indeed, because applicant has no plausible claims of ownership of or privilege in the documents bearing classification markings ... he will suffer no harm at all from a temporary stay of the special master’s review of those materials while the government’s appeal proceeds."
• "And applicant further undermined any claim that he is suffering irreparable injury from the stay by opposing the government’s motion to expedite the underlying appeal and urging that oral argument be deferred until ‘January 2023 or later.’”

• "Applicant’s failure to establish any risk of irreparable injury provides yet another independently sufficient reason to deny his request to disturb the modest partial stay entered by the court of appeals.”

What’s next: The court could act on the request within days. Five justices would have to agree in order to grant Trump’s request, per CNN.

This story has been updated with additional information.