The Supreme Court Just Denied Trump’s Request Regarding Jan. 6 Records

This investigation just got a lot more interesting.

Gerald Herbert/AP

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The House committee investigating January 6 may have just struck gold.

In a near-unanimous decision, the Supreme Court on Wednesday evening rejected former President Trump’s request to block the release of White House records relating to the January 6 attack on the Capitol, meaning that the House committee investigating the day’s events can request the roughly 800 pages of his papers from the National Archives without legal obstacle.

The heart of the issue was whether a former president could invoke executive privilege to keep the contents of the documents a secret; Trump attempted to do so, claiming that the House committee’s request for documents was politically motivated. President Biden, however, has not objected to the documents’ release. While the Supreme Court did not issue an explanation for its emergency decision, it seemed to agree that Biden, not Trump, was responsible for deciding whether these materials are covered by executive privilege. Only Justice Clarence Thomas dissented.

“Congress is examining an assault on our Constitution and democratic institutions provoked and fanned by those sworn to protect them, and the conduct under investigation extends far beyond typical deliberations concerning the proper discharge of the president’s constitutional responsibilities,” Dana Remus, the White House counsel, wrote in October.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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