(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump, in a limited request, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt part of an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling and restore a special master’s access to classified documents seized from Mar-a-Lago while the Justice Department review continues.

“The Eleventh Circuit lacked jurisdiction to review, much less stay, an interlocutory order of the District Court providing for the Special Master to review materials seized from President Trump’s home, including approximately 103 documents the Government contends bear classification markings. This application seeks to vacate only that portion of the Eleventh Circuit’s Stay Order limiting the scope of the Special Master’s review of the documents bearing classification markings,” Trump’s lawyers write.

The application was made to Justice Clarence Thomas, circuit justice for the 11th Circuit. He could rule on his own, or refer the matter to the full court. The Justice Department was given a deadline of Oct. 11 at 5 p.m. to respond to Trump’s emergency application.

On Sept. 21, a panel of judges on the appeals court granted a request from the Justice Department to stay portions of a ruling by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that had effectively paused the government’s investigation into Trump’s potential mishandling of classified records after leaving office.

The three-judge panel, comprised of two Trump appointees and a Barack Obama appointee, ruled unanimously that the Justice Department was no longer enjoined from investigating the documents with classification markings that were recovered from Mar-a-Lago and no longer had to submit those materials to special master Ray Dearie for his independent review.

“The unprecedented circumstances presented by this case — an investigation of the Forty-Fifth President of the United States by the administration of his political rival and successor — compelled the District Court to acknowledge the significant need for enhanced vigilance and to order the appointment of a Special Master to ensure fairness, transparency, and maintenance of the public trust,” Trump’s lawyers write in their filing.

“That appointment order is simply not appealable on an interlocutory basis and was never before the Eleventh Circuit. Nonetheless, the Eleventh Circuit granted a stay of the Special Master Order, effectively compromising the integrity of the well-established policy against piecemeal appellate review and ignoring the District Court’s broad discretion without justification,” they continue.

“This unwarranted stay should be vacated as it impairs substantially the ongoing, time-sensitive work of the Special Master. Moreover, any limit on the comprehensive and transparent review of materials seized in the extraordinary raid of a President’s home erodes public confidence in our system of justice,” they say.

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(WASHINGTON) — A new Biden administration report on abortion access in the U.S. describes how widely the procedure has been curtailed in the roughly 100 days after Roe v. Wade was overturned, according to a memo obtained by ABC News.

The report, compiled by Jen Klein, the head of the administration’s interagency task force on abortion access, was one focus of a Tuesday meeting that President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Cabinet members convened to discuss the state of abortion care.

The report recapped efforts by Republicans to limit abortions in the wake of the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe in June, a ruling that allowed states to regulate or ban the procedure as they saw fit.

At least 15 states have since ceased nearly all abortion services. As a result, the report said, close to 30 million women of reproductive age now live in states with bans.

Biden warned of similar efforts in Washington.

“Congressional Republicans are doubling down on the extreme position with the proposal for a national ban,” Biden said.

Tuesday’s meeting came as the White House works to drum up support for Democratic midterms candidates in the political fight to preserve or expand access to abortion and to call attention to the ways Republicans have banned or chipped away at the procedure, which polling repeatedly shows is unpopular with voters.

But the task force gathering also served as a reminder of what the Biden administration has yet to do — or says it cannot do — on abortion access, which has fueled criticism from advocates and some others in his party.

The new White House report describes a bill to codify Roe into federal law as the only way to protect women’s access, but the memo acknowledges this unlikely reality, given Democrats’ current narrow majority in the Senate.

“Republican elected officials at the state and national level have taken extreme steps to block women’s access to health care,” Klein writes in her report for the president and vice president, noting Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham’s proposal to ban most abortions nationwide after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

“The result is that in 100 days, millions of women cannot access critical health care and doctors and nurses are facing criminal penalties for providing health care,” Klein wrote.

Graham has contrasted his call for a ban with “radical” Democrats and said his “legislation is a responsible alternative as we provide exceptions for cases of rape, incest and life and physical health of the mother.”

Biden called Graham’s bill a threat to “every women, in every state and every county.”

“Even if you live in a state where extremist Republican officials aren’t running the show, your right to choose will still be at risk, because the Republicans in Congress want to pass a law to take away the right to choose for every woman in every state and every county,” he said.

He called on Americans to elect more Democrats in November so that Congress could codify Roe vs. Wade into law, something he acknowledged they were “a few votes short on.”

“The only way it’s going to happen is if the American people make it happen,” Biden said.

But particularly after a lag in reaction time after the high court’s initial ruling came down, many advocates have continued to voice frustration that Biden hasn’t done more, they say, to work to protect abortion rights.

At the last task force meeting, for example, the president signed an executive order that the administration said would help low-income women pay for abortion services.

As a result of the order, the administration said, Medicaid would cover abortion-related costs for women who have traveled from states where abortion is banned to states where it is not.

But the implementation has been slow and details on next steps have been sparse. It’s unclear if states will enroll in the program, or how many women it will aid in getting abortion care.

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(NEW YORK) — Former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon will stand trial in November 2023, a judge in New York said Tuesday.

Bannon is charged with defrauding donors to the “We Build the Wall” campaign, which was an independent effort intended to raise money for former President Donald Trump’s signature policy project.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said Bannon promised 100% of money raised would go toward building a wall along the U.S. southern border. However, he allegedly concealed his role in diverting some of the $15 million in donations toward the campaign’s chief executive, who had pledged to take no salary.

Bannon has pleaded not guilty to charges of money laundering, conspiracy and scheming to defraud investors.

Prosecutors said during a brief hearing Tuesday they had turned over four terabytes of evidence to Bannon’s defense attorney.

“There’s a great deal of it — hundreds of thousands of pages,” defense attorney David Schoen said. “Discovery is very detailed — bank records, witness interviews.”

Schoen, who also represented Trump during his second impeachment, asked for 10 months to file motions, a request Judge Juan Merchan said was “not in the realm of reality.”

Instead, the judge gave the defense until Feb. 6 to file motions. Prosecutors have until June 6 to reply before the judge’s rulings in September.

A few protesters greeted Bannon as he entered and left court. He made no statements.

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