The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an appeal with a federal court to halt the use of a special master to review documents that were taken by FBI agents from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in August.
The DOJ claimed that federal U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision to appoint a special master was erroneous, alleging the decision is interfering with their investigation. Government lawyers then asked the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to invalidate Cannon’s order, which was handed down in September.
“District courts have no general equitable authority to superintend federal criminal investigations,” the DOJ said (pdf) in court papers submitted Friday. “Instead, challenges to the government’s use of the evidence recovered in a search are resolved through ordinary criminal motions practice if and when charges are filed. Here, however, the district court granted the extraordinary relief Plaintiff sought.”…