US Supreme Court to decide if House gets Mueller grand jury material

Washington, July 3 (IANS) The US Supreme Court said it will decide whether the House of Representatives can get access to grand jury material gathered by special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into the alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US general elections.

The court is set to hear the case during its new term beginning in the fall and its ruling is widely thought unlikely to come out before the November elections, Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.

When Mueller’s work ended in March 2019, the Justice Department sent a version of his final report to Congress but redacted, or blacked out, references to information that was gathered by the Mueller grand jury.

The Justice Department said the exceptions to grand jury secrecy rules do not apply in this case while House Democrats told the court that its investigations of President Donald Trump “did not cease with the conclusion of the impeachment trial” in February.

A federal appeals court in March ordered the government to hand the materials over by May 11, but the Supreme Court put a hold on that ruling while it decided whether to take up the case, said an NBC News report.

The Supreme Court’s decision in the current case is likely to guide impeachment proceedings against future presidents, said the report.

–IANS

rt/