Here are some of the legal news stories making headlines this week:

Former President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, requesting that the special master be permitted to review about 100 classified documents.

• Trump brings the case to the Supreme Court after the Department of Justice was victorious in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The Circuit Court shielded from special master review the classified documents and allowed DOJ to continue its investigation. The appeals court ruling had overturned District Judge Aileen Cannon’s order rejecting DOJ’s case.
• According to Trump, the Eleventh Circuit decision ignores “the District Court’s broad discretion without justification. This unwarranted stay should be vacated as it impairs substantially the ongoing, time-sensitive work of the Special Master.” Trump’s petition looks to reverse only the part of the Eleventh Circuit’s decision that shielded the documents from special master review, not the part of the order that permitted DOJ to continue investigating the documents.
• Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who handles petitions from the Eleventh Circuit, ordered DOJ to file a response by next Tuesday.
• Meanwhile, the Eleventh Circuit granted DOJ’s request to expedite the appeal of Judge Cannon’s initial order — the appointment of the special master. DOJ’s first brief on the matter will be due next Friday. 

Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes is standing on trial for charges relating to January 6th.

• Rhodes, a Yale-educated lawyer, is the most high-profile defendant to stand on trial for his involvement in the attack on the Capitol thus far. He is charged with, among other things, seditious conspiracy and conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding.
• During opening statements, the prosecutor said that Rhodes acted like a “general overlooking the battlefield” on January 6th — Rhodes did not breach the Capitol that day. And even after January 6th, prosecutors said that Rhodes “continued to plot to stop the transfer of power” from Trump to President Joe Biden. 
• Rhodes plans to take the stand to testify in his own defense. He is expected to argue that his group followed Trump’s orders by coming to the Capitol on January 6th. Rhodes will cite the Insurrection Act, an 1807 law that authorizes the president to deploy troops within the United States. Trump never invoked this power in relation to January 6th or the presidential election. During his opening statement, Rhodes’s attorney said that the Oath Keepers were “ready like any military; they were ready to react at President Trump’s request.”
• Prosecutors seem to be relying heavily on audio and video footage to present their case to the jury. In court, prosecutors played a recording of a meeting where Rhodes and others discussed bringing weapons to Washington and prepared for violence. “We’re not getting out of this without a fight. There’s going to be a fight. But let’s just do it smart and let’s do it while President Trump is still commander in chief,” Rhodes said in the recording. “But I do want some Oath Keepers to stay on the outside and to stay fully armed and prepared to go in if they have to. So, if the s**t kicks off, then you rock and roll,” he continued. Video footage from the attack was also used to identify the defendants among the rioters at the Capitol.

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