The Supreme Court has declined to intervene in a mysterious subpoena fight that apparently involved an unidentified foreign-government-owned company and special counsel Robert Mueller.
Last month, the unknown firm asked the high court to block a federal judge’s contempt order and $50,000-a-day penalty for refusing to comply with the subpoena, arguing that the company is immune from U.S. grand jury subpoenas. The company also insisted that complying with the subpoena would violate the law in the firm’s home country.
But on Tuesday, the Supreme Court turned down the company’s request to step into the dispute, at least for now. The order in the case came a little more than two weeks after Chief Justice John Roberts put a temporary freeze on the contempt order and the sanctions.
The court’s order Tuesday offered no explanation for its decision and no justice publicly signaled any dissent. The high court did indicate that Roberts referred the issue to the full court and that the short-term stay he ordered last month was now dissolved.
Many details about the case have been shrouded in secrecy.
POLITICO first reported in October that the dispute appears to have links to Mueller after a POLITICO reporter at an appeals court observed a visitor request a copy of a sealed filing from the special counsel just hours after a deadline for such a submission in the ongoing legal fight.
In addition, an appeals court judge who indicated he was likely to recuse himself from any cases involving Mueller’s office stepped back from the dispute.
Although the case has traveled through three different levels of the federal court system, the publicly available court dockets do not specifically identify which prosecutors are handling the dispute or disclose whether they are attached to Mueller’s office.
An unusual degree of confidentiality continued to prevail when other appeals court judges held closed-door arguments in the grand jury fight last month. Reporters who gathered to try to spot lawyers entering or departing from the courtroom were banished from the floor where arguments were taking place.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals later released an order turning down the company’s appeal and revealing some more information about the legal dispute. The judges said the witness rebuffing the subpoena was actually a corporation owned by a foreign government, although they did not name the company, specify the country involved or say what information was being sought. It’s also unclear what records Mueller’s team might be seeking.
The three-judge panel then dismissed the company’s legal arguments for avoiding compliance with the subpoena.
The D.C. Circuit panel released an expanded but partially sealed ruling Tuesday explaining the court’s legal rationale. Most of the decision involves arcane issues related to the extent of immunity enjoyed by foreign governments and their offshoots.
However, the new opinion reveals the sanction that Chief Judge Beryl Howell imposed against the firm fighting the subpoena: $50,000 per day.
The high court’s action on Tuesday means the monetary sanctions against the firm are likely to kick in unless it complies with the demand for records. While the appeals court insisted the firm was liable for the penalty, the judges acknowledged some uncertainty about whether it could be collected.
“Whether and how that order can be enforced by execution is a question for a later day,” the D.C. Circuit opinion says.
On Monday, an unknown party that appears to be the firm filed another motion with the Supreme Court asking the justices to allow the filing of a sealed petition to grant review in the case, the high court’s docket shows.
However, it seems unlikely that the Supreme Court will accept the case for argument since no justices publicly indicated they would have granted the stay that the company requested to block the contempt order and penalties imposed by the lower court rulings.
The order the Supreme Court issued Tuesday did not indicate how or whether the court had resolved the motions the company and prosecutors filed to put their various filings in the dispute under seal.
Poster Comment:
Mueller is the criminal in this ongoing farce!
The treason is from the left. By the time we wake up, we'll be in our own ovens!
#1: Jameson To: IbJensen (#0)
Please share what crime Mr. Meuller has committed, and be specific.
Jameson posted on 2019-01-09 07:24:39 Reply Private Reply
#2: IbJensen To: Jameson (#1)
OK, leftie! This imperious asshole has spent millions and millions investigating a Russia connection knowing full well that it's the Damnocraps who have made criminal contact with the Russkies.
IbJensen posted on 2019-01-09 08:15:18 Reply Private Reply
#3: A K A Stone To: Jameson (#1)
A K A Stone posted on 2019-01-09 08:57:55 Reply Private Reply
#4: Jameson To: IbJensen (#2)
Indeed he has, it is his job to do this. He was appointed by the Department of Justice specifically for this purpose.
This is not a crime.
Mr. Meuller has actually recovered a great deal of money for the US in the course of his work:
As of September, the fiscal cost of the Mueller investigation was roughly $0.00. By that point, the probe had spent roughly $26 million. But, by striking a plea agreement with Paul Manafort for his myriad white-collar crimes — an agreement that required Trump’s former campaign manager to forfeit five multi- million-dollar properties, a life-insurance policy, and the contents of multiple bank accounts — Mueller’s investigation had acquired somewhere between $26 million and $42 million worth of revenue for the federal treasury.
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/11/trump-tweet-mueller-probe-usd40-million- fact-check-paul-manafort.html
"...knowing full well that it's the Democrats who have made criminal contact with the Russkies...
This is obviously inaccurate and strictly your opinion.
Therefore YOU sir, are a lying sack-of-shit.
Jameson posted on 2019-01-09 08:58:27 Reply Private Reply
#5: Jameson To: A K A Stone (#3)
Jameson posted on 2019-01-09 09:02:50 Reply Private Reply
#6: A K A Stone To: Jameson (#5)
Once the fake investigation is over Trump will be inoculated. Then he will destroy the coupe plotters.
Word of advice. Stay on the sidelines when that happens. Don't join any coupe attempt protests. Or you will face the flamethrower and be burnt to a crisp.
That is what I think will happen if the democrats keep up their treason.
Raising the gavel, pleasing the King These proceedings shall come to a close Guilty of treason, sins of the flesh Your crimes have all been disclosed
Say what you will as your penalty’s cast Down on your judgement today Let it be heard sentence is passed The ultimate price you will pay
Sharpening to perfection, let justice be done Crowd pleasing dissection, your table's reserved This proclamation be served
You'll be Hung Drawn and Quartered Punishment fitting the crimes Hung Drawn and Quartered Soon your last bell will chime
Off to the four winds, your parts be displayed A warning for all to take heed And to your heirs a corruption of blood Seizing your assets and deeds
So in conclusion my thanks to you all There's just one thing left to say "Ladies and gentlemen, court is adjourned Take him, be on your way"
Sharpening to perfection, blind justice be done Crowd pleasing dissection, your table's reserved This proclamation be served
You'll be Hung Drawn _and Quartered Punishment fitting the crimes Hung Drawn and Quartered Soon your last bell will chime
[Solo]
You'll be Hung Drawn and Quartered Punishment fitting the crimes Hung Drawn and Quartered Soon your last bell will chime
You'll be Hung Drawn and Quartered This be your judgement today Hung Drawn and Quartered This is the price you will pay
A K A Stone posted on 2019-01-09 09:08:31 Reply Private Reply
#7: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#6)
When will you cultists get it through your pea-sized brain that Donnie Boy is NOT a fricking King?
Deckard posted on 2019-01-09 09:10:57 Reply Private Reply
#8: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#7)
That is song lyrics drug pusher.
I didn't know a song where they talked about the President in those terms.
Comprende princess?
A K A Stone posted on 2019-01-09 09:13:47 Reply Private Reply
#9: Jameson To: A K A Stone (#6)
Please provide whatever you consider to be proof of this obvious lie.
You can't because there is none.
There was no coup attempt.
there were no e-mails
Jameson posted on 2019-01-09 09:16:58 Reply Private Reply
#10: A K A Stone To: Jameson (#9)
A K A Stone posted on 2019-01-09 09:19:28 Reply Private Reply
#11: A K A Stone To: Jameson (#9)
A K A Stone posted on 2019-01-09 09:23:04 Reply Private Reply
#12: Jameson To: A K A Stone (#10)
Your claim is false.
Your premise is a lie.
Jameson posted on 2019-01-09 09:28:04 Reply Private Reply
#13: A K A Stone To: Jameson (#12)
A K A Stone posted on 2019-01-09 09:37:06 Reply Private Reply
#14: IbJensen To: Jameson (#4)
And you, jackass, are as important as a pimple on a private's ass! I have absolutely no patience with someone as deeply inculcated with leftist garbage as you !
IbJensen posted on 2019-01-09 09:57:17 Reply Private Reply
#15: IbJensen To: A K A Stone (#11)
IbJensen posted on 2019-01-09 10:00:49 Reply Private Reply
#16: Jameson To: A K A Stone (#13)
Who are "they"?
Jameson posted on 2019-01-09 10:22:27 Reply Private Reply
#17: A K A Stone To: Jameson (#16)
You're dumber than I thought nancyboy.
A K A Stone posted on 2019-01-09 10:24:03 Reply Private Reply
#18: Jameson To: IbJensen (#14)
heh heh,
It is you, who are making false statements.
it is you who believe the nonsense that is being fed to you.
Is it because you so desperately want to believe......or is it because you are too stupid to understand that your are being lied to, and used?
Jameson posted on 2019-01-09 10:26:20 Reply Private Reply
#19: A K A Stone To: Jameson (#18)
A K A Stone posted on 2019-01-09 10:29:12 Reply Private Reply
#20: Jameson To: A K A Stone (#17)
I have no idea what sort of fantasy story you're talking about.
Your premise is that Mr. Meuller committed treason.
You cannot prove that. You cannot even make a rational argument toward that end.
Therefore your premise is false.
Jameson posted on 2019-01-09 10:30:12 Reply Private Reply
#21: A K A Stone To: Jameson (#20)
I have no idea what sort of fantasy story you're talking about.
Your premise is that President Trump committed crimes.
You cannot prove that. You cannot even make a rational argument toward that end.
Therefore your premise is false.
A K A Stone posted on 2019-01-09 10:34:12 Reply Private Reply
#22: A K A Stone To: Jameson (#20)
That is because you just aren't informed.
Google it nancy.
A K A Stone posted on 2019-01-09 10:35:32 Reply Private Reply
#23: Jameson To: A K A Stone (#21)
You're such a child.
My premise is that you have made a claim that is a lie, and you refuse to offer proof to the contrary.
Jameson posted on 2019-01-09 10:39:55 Reply Private Reply
#24: A K A Stone To: Jameson (#23)
My premise is that you have made a claim that is a lie, and you refuse to offer proof to the contrary. So quit lying about Trump and Russia.
A K A Stone posted on 2019-01-09 11:02:59 Reply Private Reply
#25: IbJensen To: Jameson (#18)
IbJensen posted on 2019-01-09 16:02:01 Reply Private Reply