It is the next level of escalation that Donald Trump has proclaimed in the dispute over the documents confiscated from his property.

After the case had been going through various courts for two months, the former US President is now involving the Supreme Court.

In an urgent application filed on Tuesday, Trump demanded that the special assessor used be allowed to examine the 100 or so classified documents that the FBI had taken from Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

Trump wants to reverse the legal stage victory that the Department of Justice achieved at the end of September.

At the time, an Atlanta appeals court upheld a government motion, overturning a previous decision by a Florida district court.

Sofia Dreisbach

North American political correspondent based in Washington.

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The Court of Appeal allowed the Justice Department to regain access to the classified documents and ruled that it did not have to pass them on to the Special Auditor.

Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon previously ruled that the Department could no longer work on the documents until the Special Advisor completed his review.

That would also have interrupted the criminal investigations against Trump for months.

In Tuesday's 37-page letter, Trump's attorneys argued that the Atlanta Circuit Court of Appeals had no authority to stay the Florida order.

It states: "Any restriction on the full and transparent review of materials seized in the unusual raid on a President's home

"Dispute over storage of documents"

The "time-critical" work of the special expert would be significantly disrupted.

It is "essentially a document retention dispute" in which the government is seeking to criminalize Trump's handling of his "personal and presidential records."

As President, Trump had unlimited authority to declassify documents.

Therefore, the designation alone cannot determine whether a document is still classified or whether Trump has released it.

According to the lawyers, it is the task of the special auditor to investigate this.

Judge Cannon had ruled that the Special Counsel could examine the files not only in relation to attorney-client privilege but also in relation to executive privilege.

This privilege allows the US President to keep internal records and information secret.

So far, it has not been legally clarified to what extent former presidents can also assert this.

If Trump and his lawyers have their way, the classified documents should only be accessible to the special examiner.

The Justice Department is of the opinion that the privilege no longer applies to Trump as a former president.

In a May letter to one of Trump's attorneys, the National Archives also said -- months before the raid -- that it would be "impracticable" for Trump to assert executive privilege,