ATLANTA—The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and American Oversight today filed papers opposing President Trump’s request, filed last night, to delay a November 2 oral argument in the case seeking the release of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report about President Trump’s mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. President Trump and his former co-defendants in the classified documents case are asking the court to postpone the argument until January 2027 or later.

The following can be attributed to Scott Wilkens, senior counsel at the Knight First Amendment Institute:

“President Trump and his former co-defendants should not be allowed to delay this case further. This report concerns allegations of serious misconduct by the nation’s highest public official, and the public has an extraordinary interest in seeing it. The court should reject this latest attempt at delay and hear the case on November 2.”

The case concerns Volume II of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report, which details his investigation into the defendants—President Trump, his personal aide Walt Nauta, and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira—over the alleged mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. In February 2025, the Knight First Amendment Institute and American Oversight separately sought access to the report, arguing that the public has a right to see it. After months of litigation—and a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit that there had been “undue delay” in the district court proceedings—Judge Aileen Cannon permanently blocked the report’s release in February 2026 and denied the Knight Institute’s and American Oversight’s motions to intervene. The Knight Institute and American Oversight appealed. On September 30, the Eleventh Circuit set oral argument for November 2, after the appeal had appeared on several tentative argument calendars. In papers filed today, the Knight Institute and American Oversight argue that there is no justification for delaying the argument again. 

Read today’s brief in United States v. Trump here.

Detailed information on the case, including a timeline of significant court filings, is available here.

Lawyers on the case include Scott Wilkens, Jameel Jaffer, and Alex Abdo for the Knight First Amendment Institute, and David Buckner for Buckner & Miles.

For more information, contact: Lorraine Kenny, [email protected].