The Supreme Court has decided not to intervene in an unnamed company’s request to stay a contempt order resulting from its refusal to comply with a grand jury’s subpoena in a case that many think is linked to special counsel Robert Mueller.
In the two-sentence order, the court said that the “administrative stay” issued by Chief Justice John Roberts in late December is vacated. Now, the mystery company will have to pay the contempt fines of $50,000 daily for every day it doesn’t comply with the grand jury subpoena.
The grand jury subpoena is widely believed to have been issued by Mueller and has been shrouded in secrecy.
The court ruling puts renewed pressure on the company either to comply with the subpoena or to enter into a cooperation agreement with the federal government.
Earlier Tuesday, the company indicated it was set to file a a writ of certiorari under seal “with redacted copies for the public record filed.” A petition for a writ of certiorari is a formal request that the Supreme Court take up a case based on its merits.
The fight 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, also in Washington.
The only details have been provided through a three-page ruling issued on Dec. 18 by the appeals court, which identified the company as “the Corporation” owned by “Country A.”
The highly secretive grand jury case, followed closely by watchers of Mueller’s investigation, was put on the docket in October. However, CNN witnessed several lawyers from Mueller’s office going into the courtroom as early as September.
