Chief Justice John Roberts is hitting pause on the mystery case that appears to involve Special Counsel Robert Mueller subpoenaing a foreign entity only known at this point as a corporation from Country A.
CNN:
The company asked the Supreme Court to intervene after a federal appeals court ruling that ordered the company to comply with the subpoena, which required it to turn over "information" about its commercial activity in a criminal investigation. The Supreme Court action also paused fines the company was facing for every day of noncompliance.
The firm filed a stay petition at the Supreme Court on Saturday. Roberts did not grant the motion but issued what appears to be a temporary stay designed to allow the court to consider whether to wade into the fight. He ordered the government to file a response by Dec. 31 at noon.
The identity of the firm and the foreign country at issue remain a mystery, but POLITICO first reported earlier this year that the dispute appeared to involve Mueller’s prosecutors.
CNN:
The company's challenge of the subpoena appears to have begun in September. In its ruling this past week, the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia offered few clues about the company and its country of origin or what Mueller's team sought.
In one short passage in the three-page decision, the judges describe how they had learned confidentially from prosecutors that they had "reasonable probability" the records requested involved actions that took place outside of the United States but directly affected the US. Even the company was not informed of what prosecutors had on the issue, because revealing it to the company would have violated the secrecy of the grand jury investigation, the judges said.
Chief Justice pauses contempt order for mystery company in Mueller investigation (CNN)
Chief Justice Roberts issues stay in case of unknown subpoena (Politico)