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Congress and former President Donald Trump are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in his latest federal case.
Democratic members of Congress this week submitted a letter to the Judicial Conference of the United States, an 18-member consortium of federal judges helmed by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, urging them to compel the court to allow televised coverage of Trump's latest case regarding his alleged involvement in the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol after his loss in the 2020 election.
"As the policymaking body for the federal courts, the Judicial Conference has historically supported increased transparency and public access to the courts' activities," the letter read. "Given the historic nature of the charges brought forth in these cases, it is hard to imagine a more powerful circumstance for televised proceedings. If the public is to fully accept the outcome, it will be vitally important for it to witness, as directly as possible, how the trials are conducted, the strength of the evidence adduced and the credibility of witnesses."
Trump, meanwhile, is asking the court to stop the case from being heard at all.
In a post on Truth Social on Friday morning, Trump railed against the criminal charges he faces, including the latest federal charges: a pair of obstruction counts along with individual counts of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and conspiracy against Constitutional rights.
Trump, who described the allegations as a weak attempt by President Joe Biden to cripple his campaign ahead of a possible rematch in 2024, wants the conservative majority on the court he helped install to intervene on his behalf.
"CRAZY! My political opponent has hit me with a barrage of weak lawsuits, including D.A., A.G., and others, which require massive amounts of my time & money to adjudicate," he wrote on Truth Social.
"Resources that would have gone into Ads and Rallies, will now have to be spent fighting these Radical Left Thugs in numerous courts throughout the Country. I am leading in all Polls, including against Crooked Joe, but this is not a level playing field. It is Election Interference, & the Supreme Court must intercede. MAGA!"
Recent election finance reports show Trump's campaign has nearly been bankrupted by the volume of legal cases piling up against him as he fights 78 criminal charges in three jurisdictions ranging from obstruction of justice to willful retention of national defense data and falsifying business records.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign via email for comment.
It's not the first time the Supreme Court has fielded a request from Trump's camp to intercede.
Last October, Senator Lindsey Graham asked the court to intervene after a lower court ordered him to testify before a special grand jury in Georgia investigating whether Trump illegally tried to compel state election officials to overturn the election—an issue that could yield additional charges in the coming weeks. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas later temporarily granted his request.
About the writer
Nick Reynolds is a senior politics reporter at Newsweek. A native of Central New York, he previously worked as a ... Read more