Sealed vs. Sealed: The U.S. Supreme Court might hear a secret case about a grand jury subpoena

Supreme_court_building1

By Robert Willmann

A sealed and secret court case about a grand jury subpoena made its way from the federal district court (trial court) to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.  Now the supreme court has opened its door slightly and, after receiving some papers, has whispered back that it is thinking about whether it will hear the case.  The current deadline for a response is Monday at High Noon on New Year's Eve.  However, one was filed by the government (possibly through the "special counsel" Robert Mueller group) on Friday, 28 December–

https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/18a669.html

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/sealed_gj_case_sup_court_docket.pdf

This case started out anonymously in a federal district court in Washington D.C.  At some point, when it was at the court of appeals, a reporter or staffer for the Politico website was in the appellate court clerk's office when a lawyer came in, and was overheard asking for a copy of the special counsel's latest sealed filing.  When approached by the Politico person, the lawyer refused to give his name or identify his client [1].  This started an ongoing rumor that a closed court proceeding was going on that might have to do with the Robert Mueller investigation about the Russian government and the Trump presidential campaign. 

When the matter was appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, that court clerk's docket sheet was public, although it consisted mostly of the word "sealed".  Backtracking from it to the district clerk's file, the trial court's docket sheet itself was secret, containing only the case number, the name "Sealed vs. Sealed", and a statement that the case is not available to the public.  But a few clues appeared in the court of appeals docket sheet, giving us a case number in the district court (1:18-gj-00041-BAH), the judge presiding over the case there (Beryl A. Howell), the fact that it involves a grand jury matter (the 'gj' in the case number), and the day the proceeding began in the trial court (16 August 2018) [2]. —

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/sealed_gj_case_appeals_ct_docket_sheet.pdf

The appeal to the D.C. Circuit began and was officially filed on 10 October 2018.  As the docket sheet shows, written arguments (briefs) were filed by both sides.  Oral argument to the court was set for 14 December 2018, and reporters actually started to do their job, staking out the courthouse that day.  But the fifth floor of the building was cleared out, and the lawyers involved sneaked in and out of the courthouse for the hearing without being detected [3].

A decision was delivered four days later in the form of a three-page judgment, written in a way to obscure as much as possible who was involved and the facts underlying the issues–

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/sealed_gj_case_court_appeals_judgment-1.pdf

Challenges to grand jury subpoenas are rarely successful, because the long-standing rationale is that "a grand jury is entitled to every man's evidence".  A grand jury is not just a small group of people meeting during a specified time period to hear cases behind closed doors presented unilaterally by the government prosecutor, and then deciding whether to issue a formal written criminal charge in the matter.  They also are a legally authorized way to discover information and evidence in a situation that might involve a criminal violation.  In civil lawsuits, both parties can make use of legally authorized ways to discover evidence in addition to their own private investigation:  they can send written questions to the other parties to the lawsuit, make a request for documents and other tangible things, make a request to the other side to admit certain facts, make a request to enter onto land to inspect it, question other parties and witnesses before a court reporter in a private setting outside of the courthouse in a session called a deposition, and so forth.  But formal information gathering in criminal cases is handled differently.  If the sheriff, police department, or law enforcement agency cannot get enough information by the voluntary questioning of witnesses and suspects, and executing search warrants, a grand jury can be used by the prosecuting attorneys to issue subpoenas requiring witnesses to appear or produce documents and tangible things.  Federal grand juries are especially powerful because their subpoenas are nationwide in scope.  

As you can see by reading the court of appeals judgment and opinion, there are interesting issues about the circumstances in which a corporation from a foreign country is subject to the authority of U.S. courts and can be compelled to give evidence before a grand jury, apart from the tantalizing possiblity that this case involves the Mueller group and president Trump.  In addition, the case has a complicating twist because the foreign corporation is also owned by a foreign country's government.  This is how an issue discussed in the judgment involves the concept that a foreign "sovereign" or country can be immune from criminal prosecution and from the authority of U.S. courts to hear and decide a particular matter (a court's "jurisdiction").  The main language is found in Title 28, U.S. Code, sections 1604, 1605, 1605A, 1605B, 1606, and 1607–

http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title28/part4/chapter97&edition=prelim

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/part-IV/chapter-97

After the court of appeals ruled against the foreign corporation on 18 December, the corporation decided to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, and filed a sealed application on 22 December, as shown in the citation above to the supreme court's docket entries.  The next day, the supreme court made a "stay order" to suspend enforcement of the trial court's order holding the coporation in contempt for not complying, and suspended the amounts of money ordered to accrue daily until the company obeyed the court order and subpoena.

Whether the case involves the Mueller group and Trump remains to be seen.

In almost all instances, the U.S. Supreme Court does not have to hear and decide a case unless it wants to.  The lower courts of appeals are the ones that have to decide a case appealed to them, which is what happened here.  Since the supreme court set a deadline of noon on 31 December for the government to file a response, which it filed on the 28th, a decision could be made tomorrow (Monday) on whether the supreme court will take the case, but usually they take some time and can even have a conference among themselves before deciding.  If they accept it, they have a new problem, which is how to handle the secret nature of the appeal and the grand jury process.

In 1971, the supreme court decided the "Pentagon Papers" case, regarding intended publication of internal governmental writings about policy-making and the Vietnam War.  Underlying material was not disclosed while the case was going on, but the parties were known:  the New York Times and Washington Post newspapers and the federal government.  But in this instance, grand jury activity exists, and questions such as whether the suspect being investigated knows the corporation is being asked to turn over information, or whether the foreign government-owned corporation is itself the target of the investigation, as well as other factors, can affect what will be publicly disclosed if the supreme court hears the case.  The problem of what information in this case should be disclosed will be just as important as the subject matter and substance of the case itself.

[1] https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/24/mueller-investigation-grand-jury-roger-stone-friend-938572

[2]  I deleted two pages of the original pdf file format of the docket sheet because one page contained a duplicate entry, and the last page had the electronic filing system box.

[3]  https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/14/mystery-mueller-subpoena-fight-1065409

The photograph of the supreme court building is from the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

 

 

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2 Responses to Sealed vs. Sealed: The U.S. Supreme Court might hear a secret case about a grand jury subpoena

  1. John Doe says:

    The sealed case is The Federal Reserve v. The United States Corporation. The Fed Govt. is a corporation and the documents it was subpoenaed to produce would prove the federal government is not a Republic because it is bankrupt.
    The Federal Reserve is a privately owned central bank which lends money to the government because it is bankrupt. So the Federal Reserve is the government’s CREDITOR. Since the government can not pay back these loans, the creditor has taken ownership of the government. When a corporation is bankrupt and unable to pay back it’s creditors, the creditors take ownership of the corporation and seize all its assets.
    The Federal Reserve is composed of 12 member banks and one of them is JP Morgan Chase. In 1933 the government went bankrupt for the third time. The Federal Reserve is owned by international bankers whose names are concealed. These bankers took over the Federal Government and were behind the assassination of JFK because he was trying to transition away form the Federal Reserve.
    The bankers who own the Federal Reserve also own other central banks such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which is the central bank for the European countries. These international bankers are the most powerful people in the entire world and have an infinite amount of money because they literally CREATE the currencies which the monetary systems are based on.
    As such these bankers literally run all the government agencies, law enforcement, and the courts. So former Special Counsel Robert Mueller and former Deputy Attorney Rod Rosenstein understand and accept the fact that these bankers own the U.S. government and so they literally work for these bankers. Mueller and Rosenstein are attorneys who represent these international bankers who own the Federal Reserve.
    So In this mystery case/Sealed v Sealed, Robert Mueller is the attorney representing the owners of the Federal Reserve/international bankers who have subpoenaed documents for the Federal Government to prove it is not a republic because they own it.
    Trump states the government is a Republic so Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller set out to discredit the President who they merely perceive to be the President of a bankrupt corporation. They believe the President has no right to fire the Director of the FBI. They believe the President works for the international bankers who own the Federal Reserve and so the President only fire the Director of the FBI is these bankers agree with this.= which they did not.
    So Mueller and Rosenstein launched a smear campaign against Trump, disguised as an investigation into collusion with Russia. This was designed for the media to take it and run with it which is exactly what the media did. All the politicians are terrified of Mueller and Rosenstein because they represent the most powerful and most ruthless people on the planet. This is whey Rod Rosenstein was not held in contempt of Congress and why no one would dare “interfere” with Mueller’s bogus investigation.
    Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein are traders and so are many other people who run the government and law enforcement agencies for the bankers. These people have all sold out the American People. The Federal Government is not part of the United States of America. The federal government is located in the district of Columbia, Washington, D.C. This is NOT part of the United States of America where the 50 states reside. Washington, D.C. is literally its own little nation state with its own laws-the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations. AS such the federal government was separated from the Constitution. The Constitution only applies to the United States of America. It does not apply to any other nations and traders like Mueller and Rosenstein believe the Constriction doe snot apply to the federal government located in Washington, D.C. because it is not part of the U.S.A.
    Getting back to the mystery case of Sealed v Sealed, the defendant is the federal government which is the corporation referred to as “Corporation A.” The defense argues it is owned by “Country A” and the subpoena to produce the documents violates the laws of this country. The Country is the United States of America and it’s laws are the Constitution which says the government is a Republic. So the defense argues it cannot produce these documents because they seek to prove the government is not a Republic. The judges all granted the subpoena in favor of Mueller because they are terrified of the bankers he represents because they assassinated JFK and other who interfere with their plans to control the United Sates government as well as the governments of other countries. Their goal is to rule the world and they seek to accomplish this by taking over the governments of all countries around the world. They do this by keeping them in debt. They have so much power and control they can cause the stock market to crash, the real estate market to crash, depressions, financial crisis, currency collapse, etc. This then forces governments to borrow money from their central banks and that causes the governments to be in debt to these bankers. Once they have control over all nations they plan to create one government for the whole world and one currency for all nations. This is referred to as a New World Order.
    Once the bankers take over the government they intentionally run it into the ground so it can never pay back the money it owes. In 1933 the government went bankrupt and began to borrow money for the Federal Reserve. Since the government was bankrupt it had no collateral for the loans. As a result it had to agree to use its citizens and their property as collateral for the loans. The government entered into an agreement with these bankers to do this. As a result the courts all believe the people are in debt to these bankers because the government just gets its money by taxing the people. Since the government cannot collect enough in taxes to pay back these loans, the banks along with the government agencies and the courts all believe they can simply seize peoples’ property to pay for this debt. This keeps the people under total control which is what enables the bankers to remain in power. By taking the peoples’ income (IRS) to pay for the money it lends the government so the government can provide the people with what they need, the people are always working just to survive which prevent them from resisting the tyranny of the government.
    This is precisely what the 2008 financial crisis was all about. The Federal Reserve and banks set people up for foreclosure in order to seize their property (homes). This is why the government and court ignored all the foreclosure fraud. They all understand the banks were just seizing peoples’ home to pay the debt the federal government owes to the Federal Reserve. Trump acts as if he is restoring the Republic but there is little evidence he is able to do anything about it.

  2. John Doe says:

    The sealed case is The Federal Reserve v. The United States Corporation. The Fed Govt. is a corporation and the documents it was subpoenaed to produce would prove the federal government is not a Republic because it is bankrupt.
    The Federal Reserve is a privately owned central bank which lends money to the government because it is bankrupt. So the Federal Reserve is the government’s CREDITOR. Since the government can not pay back these loans, the creditor has taken ownership of the government. When a corporation is bankrupt and unable to pay back it’s creditors, the creditors take ownership of the corporation and seize all its assets.
    The Federal Reserve is composed of 12 member banks and one of them is JP Morgan Chase. In 1933 the government went bankrupt for the third time. The Federal Reserve is owned by international bankers whose names are concealed. These bankers took over the Federal Government and were behind the assassination of JFK because he was trying to transition away form the Federal Reserve.
    The bankers who own the Federal Reserve also own other central banks such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which is the central bank for the European countries. These international bankers are the most powerful people in the entire world and have an infinite amount of money because they literally CREATE the currencies which the monetary systems are based on.
    As such these bankers literally run all the government agencies, law enforcement, and the courts. So former Special Counsel Robert Mueller and former Deputy Attorney Rod Rosenstein understand and accept the fact that these bankers own the U.S. government and so they literally work for these bankers. Mueller and Rosenstein are attorneys who represent these international bankers who own the Federal Reserve.
    So In this mystery case/Sealed v Sealed, Robert Mueller is the attorney representing the owners of the Federal Reserve/international bankers who have subpoenaed documents for the Federal Government to prove it is not a republic because they own it.
    Trump states the government is a Republic so Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller set out to discredit the President who they merely perceive to be the President of a bankrupt corporation. They believe the President has no right to fire the Director of the FBI. They believe the President works for the international bankers who own the Federal Reserve and so the President only fire the Director of the FBI is these bankers agree with this.= which they did not.
    So Mueller and Rosenstein launched a smear campaign against Trump, disguised as an investigation into collusion with Russia. This was designed for the media to take it and run with it which is exactly what the media did. All the politicians are terrified of Mueller and Rosenstein because they represent the most powerful and most ruthless people on the planet. This is whey Rod Rosenstein was not held in contempt of Congress and why no one would dare “interfere” with Mueller’s bogus investigation.
    Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein are traders and so are many other people who run the government and law enforcement agencies for the bankers. These people have all sold out the American People. The Federal Government is not part of the United States of America. The federal government is located in the district of Columbia, Washington, D.C. This is NOT part of the United States of America where the 50 states reside. Washington, D.C. is literally its own little nation state with its own laws-the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations. AS such the federal government was separated from the Constitution. The Constitution only applies to the United States of America. It does not apply to any other nations and traders like Mueller and Rosenstein believe the Constriction doe snot apply to the federal government located in Washington, D.C. because it is not part of the U.S.A.
    Getting back to the mystery case of Sealed v Sealed, the defendant is the federal government which is the corporation referred to as “Corporation A.” The defense argues it is owned by “Country A” and the subpoena to produce the documents violates the laws of this country. The Country is the United States of America and it’s laws are the Constitution which says the government is a Republic. So the defense argues it cannot produce these documents because they seek to prove the government is not a Republic. The judges all granted the subpoena in favor of Mueller because they are terrified of the bankers he represents because they assassinated JFK and other who interfere with their plans to control the United Sates government as well as the governments of other countries. Their goal is to rule the world and they seek to accomplish this by taking over the governments of all countries around the world. They do this by keeping them in debt. They have so much power and control they can cause the stock market to crash, the real estate market to crash, depressions, financial crisis, currency collapse, etc. This then forces governments to borrow money from their central banks and that causes the governments to be in debt to these bankers. Once they have control over all nations they plan to create one government for the whole world and one currency for all nations. This is referred to as a New World Order.
    Once the bankers take over the government they intentionally run it into the ground so it can never pay back the money it owes. In 1933 the government went bankrupt and began to borrow money for the Federal Reserve. Since the government was bankrupt it had no collateral for the loans. As a result it had to agree to use its citizens and their property as collateral for the loans. The government entered into an agreement with these bankers to do this. As a result the courts all believe the people are in debt to these bankers because the government just gets its money by taxing the people. Since the government cannot collect enough in taxes to pay back these loans, the banks along with the government agencies and the courts all believe they can simply seize peoples’ property to pay for this debt. This keeps the people under total control which is what enables the bankers to remain in power. By taking the peoples’ income (IRS) to pay for the money it lends the government so the government can provide the people with what they need, the people are always working just to survive which prevent them from resisting the tyranny of the government.
    This is precisely what the 2008 financial crisis was all about. The Federal Reserve and banks set people up for foreclosure in order to seize their property (homes). This is why the government and court ignored all the foreclosure fraud. They all understand the banks were just seizing peoples’ home to pay the debt the federal government owes to the Federal Reserve. The United States Supreme Court even ruled a mortgage is not a debt. This was to allow the banks to continue to commit fraud to foreclose on homes without the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau having to enforce the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. So when a consumer files a complaint with the CFPB to dispute the debt (mortgage), the CFPB can not stop the banks and their debt collectors from foreclosing on homes even though they are unable to validate the debt. Trump acts as if he is restoring the Republic but there is little evidence he is able to do anything about it.

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