NEWSWEEK.COM 31
other reason lower court decisions don’t necessari-
ly predict high court outcomes. Lower court judges
are bound by Supreme Court precedent; Supreme
Court justices are not.
Compromise?
the trio of subpoena cases now before the
court each present distinct issues. Accordingly, their
outcomes may vary, and there is room for compro-
mise among the justices.
The first case involves a subpoena that the late
Elijah Cummings, then chairman of the House Over-
sight and Reform Committee, issued to Mazars this
past April. It seeks, among other things, “all statements
12 federal judges took part, with nine voting against
Trump. The appeals court rulings were authored by
three eminent circuit judges with, between them,
92 years of experience on the bench.
Still, in today’s politically polarized world, count-
ing lower court rulings is a poor way to predict Su-
preme Court outcomes. Eight of the nine judges who
ruled against Trump were appointed by Democrats,
while all three who voted for him were Republican-
appointees. (Two additional Republican appeals court
judges also voiced disagreement with the rulings by
requesting, unsuccessfully, reconsideration of the
case involving the congressional subpoena to Mazars.)
F Even apart from political allegiances, there’s an-
R
2
M
T
2
P
9
I&
T
2
R
J
.
B
/
8
E
ʔ
B
/
2
2
M
B
E
R
ʔ
E
T
T
<
;
&
I
N
D
<
2
R
D
ʔ
E
T
T
<
IT SEEMS INCREASINGLY DOUBTFUL
THAT (THE COURT) WILL ORDER A QUICK,
CLEAN TURNOVER OF THE PRESIDENT’S Crown Jewels.