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The Supreme Court on Monday declined to reopen a lawsuit filed by former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page challenging FBI surveillance conducted during the agency’s investigation into alleged ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
The justices denied Page’s request, vacating the lower court rulings and effectively ending his bid to have FBI Director James Comey and other federal officials personally indicted for what he alleged was illegal surveillance. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson did not participate in the case.
Page, who served as a foreign policy adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign, was the subject of secret surveillance warrants authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2016 and 2017 as part of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
He has never been charged with a crime and has long denied allegations that he was a Russian diplomat.
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Carter Page, Former Foreign Policy Advisor to Donald Trump during his 2016 Presidential election campaign visits “The David Webb Show” on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 at SiriusXM Studios on January 14, 2020 in New York City. (Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
The case became one of the most controversial chapters in the Trump-Russia investigation after the Justice Department’s inspector general’s report identified major errors and omissions in the FBI’s subpoena requests. Former FBI and Justice Department officials involved in approving the warrants later said they would not have signed the requests had they been fully aware of the problems identified by investigators.
Carter Page, former adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, speaks to the audience during a presentation in Moscow, Russia, on Dec. 12, 2016.
In response to the watchdog’s findings, the FBI implemented a number of corrective measures aimed at improving the accuracy and completeness of future surveillance requests.
Page sued Comey and other former officials, saying they violated his constitutional rights by filing flawed applications for surveillance authority. Lower courts dismissed the case, finding, among other things, that Page did not sue the officers who directly supervised him.
Page recently reached a $1.25 million settlement with the federal government related to surveillance claims but wanted to continue pursuing claims against former officials.
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The Supreme Court did not provide an explanation for the denial of review, as is customary when dismissing appeals.
The United States Supreme Court building is illuminated at night in Washington, DC, showing the grand entrance, the marble-lined West Facade, and the inscription “Equal Justice Under Law.” (Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto/Getty Images)
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The decision marks the latest legal chapter stemming from the Russia investigation, which examined whether members of Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Moscow’s efforts to influence the election. Special counsel Robert Mueller finally concluded that Russia interfered in the election but did not reveal that members of the Trump campaign formed a criminal conspiracy with Russia.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
