The public may soon get to learn some details about an unnamed company’s battle against a grand jury subpoena that is widely believed to be issued by special counsel Robert Mueller.
A new filing on the U.S. Supreme Court’s online docket shows the company is looking to file a writ of certiorari under seal “with redacted copies for the public record filed.” A petition for writ of certiorari is a formal request that a Supreme Court take up a case based on its merits.
The request was submitted Monday but made public Tuesday.
The Supreme Court is already considering the company’s request to appeal a lower court’s ruling to force the company to comply with the subpoena, or pay daily fines. Chief Justice John Roberts issued a temporary administrative stay in December that halted the fines while the Supreme Court considers whether to block the decision by the appeals court.
The dispute reached the Supreme Court after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in mid-December rejected the company’s appeal to quash the grand jury subpoena to turn over records in circuit court.
In that ruling, the federal appeals court revealed that “the Corporation” is owned by “Country A” and must comply with the subpoena. The three-page ruling said the company had sought to squash the subpoena because it is “immune under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act” and because the subpoena would “require the Corporation to Violate Country A’s domestic law.”
However, “[t]he district court denied the motion,” according to the ruling signed by Judges David S. Tatel, Thomas B. Griffith, and Stephen F. Williams.
The highly secretive grand jury case was put on the docket in October, but CNN witnessed several lawyers from Mueller’s office going into the courtroom as early as early September. The courtroom involved an unknown defense team and a trial-level judge who oversees federal grand jury-related cases.
In mid-October, Politico reported that that Mueller’s team was brought into court by a witness battling a subpoena and only discovered the connection to Mueller’s probe after overhearing a man request a document in the case from the special counsel’s office.
In early December, Judges Tatel, Griffith, and Williams took a recess after hearing an immigration-related case, and then the floor of the courthouse where the appeals court is located went into lockdown. Only law clerks were allowed to stay behind.
No one saw anyone from Mueller’s office or any other lawyers from a possible defense coming in and out of the building. However, CNN reported that after court activity appeared to end for the day, a black Justice Department car returned to Mueller’s office in Washington, carrying lawyers Michael Dreeben and Zainab Ahmad.
Mueller took over the Russia investigation in May 2017 and has so far brought criminal counts against more than 30 people and three Russian entities, producing more than 100 criminal charges.
