The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed on Wednesday to a request from the DOJ to speed up the government’s bid to block a Trump-friendly judge’s intervention in the Mar-a-Lago investigation.
The 11th Circuit largely accepted a timeline proposed by federal prosecutors last week, as they ask the appeals court to overturn an order from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon for the Southern District of Florida. That order initially barred the DOJ from using records it had seized at Mar-a-Lago for its investigation, and installed a special master to sift through the material.
The 11th Circuit suspended Cannon’s ruling as it applies to classified information, though the rest remains in place.
Per the new schedule, the DOJ will present its brief on Oct. 14.
Prosecutors had asked for Trump to have 21 days to reply; the 11th Circuit is giving him 28, with a reply brief due on Nov. 10. The DOJ will have to reply to that on Nov. 17.
It’s not clear when oral arguments in the matter will be held. The DOJ asked for them to be scheduled as soon as possible.
In the brief order setting out the schedule, Circuit Judge Adalberto Jordan noted that the 11th Circuit’s chief judge, William Pryor, had been consulted. The case will then follow the standard pattern for appeals cases: a randomly selected panel of judges will hear the matter, and will decide when oral arguments take place.
Trump asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the case on Tuesday, saying that the High Court should suspend the 11th Circuit’s order as it applies to the special master’s review.
