Donald Trump suffered a very bad day legally after being sued in New York and losing his Mar-a-Lago case before a federal appeals court in Georgia.
"An appeals court sided with the Justice Department in a legal fight over classified documents seized in a court-authorized search of former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, ruling Wednesday that the FBI may use the documents in its ongoing criminal investigation," The Washington Postreported. "The ruling by a three-judge panel of the appeals court marks a victory, at least temporarily, for the Justice Department in its legal battle with Trump over access to the evidence seized in a high-stakes national security investigation to determine if the former president or his advisers mishandled national security secrets or hid or destroyed government records."
Legal experts saw it as a major loss for Trump, who is unable to appeal to the full 11th Circuit Court under the court's Rule 35-4.
"The Eleventh Circuit’s rules don’t allow for en banc review of panel decisions on emergency applications," wrote University of Texas Law Prof. Steve Vladeck. "It’s [Supreme Court] or bust at this point."
"Trump has the right to now ask [Supreme Court] to vacate the Eleventh Circuit’s partial stay and put Judge Cannon’s ruling back into effect," Vladeck explained. "But suffice it to say, I think the odds of there being five votes to override this ruling — even on *this* Court — are exceedingly close to zero."
Former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal suggested Trump's push for a special master backfired.
"The Court of Appeals ruling is not only a straight repudiation of every legal claim Trump has made since Mar a Lago searched, it's a boomerang," Katyal wrote. "Trump's legal args backfired-Ct powerfully explains why criminal and national security implications are so massive. Court just justified a prosecution."
"It’s really hard to lose an appeal more decisively than Trump just did," Katyal wrote. "This criminal investigation now goes forward with the imprimatur and blessing of the US Court of Appeals, and their explanation of how important this investigation is."
Former White House ethics czar Norm Eisen declared it, "Donald Trump's worst day ever."