Mar-a-Lago Documents Case: Amicus Briefs And Additional Resources

A group of former federal prosecutors and state and federal government officials who served in Republican Administrations, including former top Justice Department officials who served as Assistant, Deputy, and Acting Attorneys General, and U.S. Attorneys, filed amicus briefs in the three stages of the Mar-a-Lago documents case, at the district court and 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, supporting the Justice Department. The briefs called former President Trump’s request for a special master “unprecedented” and “manifestly frivolous.”

The amici collectively have decades of experience advising on matters involving the proper scope of executive power and executive privilege or prosecuting cases involving sensitive or classified materials.

The amicus briefs were prepared by co-counsels, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; Amb. Norman Eisen (ret.); and Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer.

On December 1, 2022, in a unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, ruled against former President Donald Trump and halted the special master’s review of the documents seized from Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago.

“In considering these arguments,” the Appeals Court panel wrote, “we are faced with a choice: apply our usual test; drastically expand the availability of equitable jurisdiction for every subject of a search warrant; or carve out an unprecedented exception in our law for former presidents. We choose the first option. So the case must be dismissed.”