Oct. 7 (UPI) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from X asking justices to decide if prosecutors should have been able to obtain data from former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account notifying him.
The case was part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump over alleged interference in 2020 presidential election. The Supreme Court had slowed the case after issuing a separate ruling saying that presidents have broad immunity from prosecution for official acts while in office.
Smith sought a warrant for Trump’s information and a nondisclosure order preventing X from telling Trump about its investigation because of the potential of evidence being destroyed. A federal judge sided with Smith, but X continued to resist, leading to $350,000 in civil penalties before relenting.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. upheld the lower court’s decision, and X appealed to the Supreme Court.
“The Fourth Amendment permits the government to obtain a warrant to search property belonging to an innocent third party as long as the warrant is supported by probable cause that ‘evidence of a crime will be found,'” the special counsel said in its arguments.
The special counsel office eventually was able to seize several dozen direct messages from Trump that it had not seen before and other information from his @realDonaldTrump Twitter account.
