One of the salient Special Counsel Mueller mysteries is detailed in this Politico piece:
This month’s three-page summary D.C. Circuit decision revealed a fairly dry set of legal issues that just might conceal a juicy core. The dry issues involved matters of jurisdiction and statutory interpretation fathomed only by elite appellate lawyers, but the potentially juicier underlying issues hinted of fascination: Somewhere, a corporation (a bank? a communications firm? an energy company?) owned by a foreign state (Russia? Turkey? Ukraine? United Arab Emirates? Saudi Arabia?) had engaged in transactions that had an impact in the United States and on matters involved in the special counsel’s investigation. …
And then came Roberts’ surprise Sunday decision. He is the “circuit justice” for the D.C. Circuit, meaning he is the justice assigned to receive emergency and other petitions arising from that circuit. Under Supreme Court rules, the circuit justice may act without consulting his or her colleagues to dispose of routine rulings. So, we should not read too much into the fact that it is the chief justice in particular who acted here.
But we can read a good deal into his decision to intervene at all. Although every judge below agreed there was ultimately no merit to the Corporation’s legal claims, Roberts evidently harbors some doubt. Something in the Corporation’s papers caught his attention. So rather than consigning this appeal to the discard pile with thousands of others, he has blocked the lower courts’ decisions until he can receive the government’s briefs defending those decisions. Those papers must be filed no later than New Year’s Eve. Once he receives the full briefing, he can reject the Corporation’s appeal or he can advance the matter to the full court for consideration.
I have no idea what may be going on, but, on its face, it’s very interesting. Will the information go public if SCOTUS actually hears these arguments, or will this be a closed hearing? Probably the latter.
And, behind the scenes, this means that at least Chief Justice Roberts may have non-public information concerning the Mueller investigation. While I hope Roberts is capable of rulings on various matters without regards to secret information, it’s possible that this information may influence his behavior, both officially and unofficially. For example, he may give Trump only minimal respect, like much of the Federal judiciary has done so, because he doesn’t want to hitch his boat to a sinking ocean liner.
He’s already reprimanded President Trump once for behavior unbecoming a President, but I doubt Trump understood that. Roberts’ future behavior could become very interesting.
