![DOJ asks judge to stay order requiring former White House counsel to testify](https://www.jurist.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/04/800px-Don_McGahn_25615685987.jpg)
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) asked a federal judge Tuesday to grant a temporary stay of her order requiring former White House Counsel Don McGahn to testify in the House impeachment probe on Tuesday.
The motion for a temporary stay comes one day after Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the US District Court for the District of Columbia issued her order.
In their motion for stay pending appeal and for immediate administrative stay, the DOJ noted that this is the second time in history a court has required a senior presidential advisor to testify before Congress. They argue that the present case is similar to the past case because both are “of potentially great significant for the balance of power between the Legislative and Executive Branches.” Thus, the DOJ believes the present order should be afforded a stay pending appeal just as it has in the past.
In addition, the DOJ argued that since the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit court has previously ruled that a stay is warranted in separation of powers cases and the traditional factors needed for a stay to be granted are present, that Jackson should enter an immediate administrative stay in the present case.