US Supreme Court Allows Release of White House Files Related to 6 Jan Attack
Trump had requested the court to disallow the same on the grounds of a former president's executive privilege.
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The Supreme Court of the United States on Wednesday, 19 January, rejected former President Donald Trump's request to block the release of White House documents concerning the insurrection attack on the Capitol that took place on 6 January 2021, The New York Times reported.
Trump had made the request on the grounds of a former president's executive privilege.
Two weeks ago, a three-judge panel in a federal appeals court – United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia – had rejected Trump's demand to prevent the documents from being accessed by the House Select Committee which is investigating the capitol attack.
The Supreme Court on 19 January let the ruling of the appeals court stand.
Justice Clarence Thomas was the only one out of the nine Supreme Court justices who dissented.
The majority decision of the apex court argued that while the confidentiality of internal White House communications was important, the nature of the capitol attack was such that the presidential executive privilege that Trump was invoking, was outweighed by the necessity to investigate the events of 6 January 2021.
The majority ruling also wrote that the case of the capital riot presented complex issues regarding executive privilege, including "whether and in what circumstances a former president may obtain a court order preventing disclosure of privileged records from his tenure in office, in the face of a determination by the incumbent president to waive the privilege," as quoted in the NYT.
The House Select Committee can now proceed with its investigation of the riot with full access to the White House documents that could provide them an idea about Trump and his administration's role in the events.
Democrat Representative Bennie Thompson, who is the chairperson of the investigative committee, and Republican Representative Liz Cheney, who is the vice chairperson of the same, called the ruling "a victory for the rule of law and American democracy."
"Our work goes forward to uncover all the facts about the violence of Jan. 6 and its causes," the statement of the committee read.
(With inputs from NYT)