The Department of Justice on Friday sought a stay to block parts of a federal judge's ruling that halted its ongoing review of roughly 100 documents marked as classified that were seized at former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence.
Driving the news: "The district court has entered an unprecedented order enjoining the Executive Branch’s use of its own highly classified records in a criminal investigation with direct implications for national security," the department wrote in the Friday evening filing.
- DOJ asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to "stay only the portions of the order causing the most serious and immediate harm to the government and the public by (1) restricting the government’s review and use of records bearing classification markings and (2) requiring the government to disclose those records for a special-master review process."
The big picture: The 29-page partial stay request comes a day after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon appointed Judge Raymond Dearie to review the evidence seized at Trump's Florida residence.
- Cannon on Thursday also rejected the DOJ's request to resume its criminal investigation into the classified documents seized at Mar-a-Lago.
- "The court’s order hamstrings that investigation and places the FBI and Department of Justice under a Damoclean threat of contempt," the department wrote in its Friday filing to the Atlanta-based court of appeals.
Go deeper: Judge denies DOJ request, appoints special master in Trump Mar-a-Lago probe
Editor's note: This story has been updated with new details.
