The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up an appeal from former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, who sued former FBI officials over flawed government surveillance he faced during the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Background of the Case

Page, a foreign policy adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016, sued former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and others over investigators’ use of a wiretap authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. A Justice Department inspector general report later found that the process used to obtain the FISA warrant was based on a series of mistakes and errors.

Page had also sued the FBI and the Department of Justice, but the Trump administration settled that litigation in April. What remained on appeal was the part of the litigation involving FBI officials who worked during President Joe Biden’s administration.

Lower courts rejected Page’s litigation. A federal appeals court in Washington, DC, concluded that a three-year statute of limitations barred the suit. Page appealed to the Supreme Court in December.

The high court rejected the appeal in a brief order with no comment. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson did not take part in the deliberations.

Page argued that the clock on the statute of limitations should be started ticking with the inspector general’s report in 2019. Page sued in November 2020. He argued that the appeals court decision meant that such lawsuits would fall into a “Catch-22 that such claims will either be dismissed as too speculative or as time-barred.”

Because of his work as a campaign adviser and connections to the Russian government, investigators wanted to monitor Page as they probed potential collaboration between the Trump campaign and Russia. He was never charged with any wrongdoing.

Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.