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When Donald Trump left the White House, he took files with him - was he endangering national security?
Photo: GAELEN MORSE / REUTERS
The US Department of Justice may continue to evaluate classified documents that were confiscated at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.
A court of appeals in Atlanta approved a corresponding application.
The Atlanta federal judges reversed the decision of a Florida judge who had ordered the documents seized by the FBI in Mar-a-Lago in August to be reviewed by an independent expert, a so-called special master.
She delegated the task to Raymond Dearie.
This restricted the evaluation of the documents – the higher court has now overturned this verdict.
The AP news agency writes that it is an overwhelming legal victory for the ministry.
However, this is a preliminary decision;
investigators wanted continued access to the documents pending a final decision on the matter.
If the appeals court had ruled in Trump's favor, it would have set back the investigation by at least weeks.
The sharply worded decision has it all.
On 29 pages, the appeals court contradicted many of the arguments put forward by Trump attorneys and overturned important parts of the Florida order.
This had prevented the ministry from using about a hundred files with non-disclosure markings in its investigation.
The appeals court also ruled that Trump's attorneys and Dearie were not required to see the documents the FBI seized on Aug. 8 from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.
In particular, the Court of Appeals pointed out that Trump had not cited any evidence that he needed around a hundred secret files or that he had declassified the rest of the documents.
Most judges appointed by Trump himself
The background to the investigation is the allegation that Trump violated the law by keeping the documents in his private estate after the end of his term of office, for example by violating confidentiality or archiving requirements.
Trump and his lawyers criticize the authorities' actions as politically motivated.
In this case, the ex-president could face criminal proceedings.
Notably, two of the three appellate court judges were appointed by Trump himself.
It should therefore be difficult for him to assume that the judiciary was biased, as in other cases.
However, Trump still has the option of taking the matter to the Supreme Court, the US Supreme Court.
muk/AP/AFP