Supreme Court blocks release of Mueller grand jury materials until after election
02 July 2020
The Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed it will hear a Trump administration appeal to shield secret grand jury materials from the Mueller investigation from the Democratic-controlled House.
Why it matters: The move will likely extend the legal battle over the documents into next year, essentially guaranteeing that Democrats won't get them before the election. Democrats in the House Judiciary Committee sought to obtain the records as part of their impeachment inquiry last year.
Details: The court said it will review an order from a lower court for the Department of Justice to hand over redacted parts of Mueller's final report, along with grand jury transcripts.
- Grand jury records are usually kept secret, but a judge can authorize to disclose them during “judicial proceedings.” The legal question is whether the House's impeachment inquiry falls under that.
- A federal appeals court previously ruled Democrats could gain access to the materials. But the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the DOJ from handing it over in May, and extended that ruling today.
What's next: The court will consider the case in the term that starts this October.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.