Page:DOJ Response to Special Master.pdf/20

Rh classification review of these materials, and ODNI is leading an Intelligence Community assessment of the potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure of these materials. D.E. 31 at 2–3. Any possible injury is thus, at most, an incremental and theoretical “harm” based on further review of materials that the Case Team has already reviewed and inventoried.

Finally, the fact that the former President filed this motion two weeks after the search occurred—and only just effected service on the United States on August 29—“militates against a finding of irreparable harm.” Wreal, LLC v. Amazon.com, Inc., 840 F.3d 1244, 1248 (11th Cir. 2016). “[T]he very idea of a preliminary injunction is premised on the need for speedy and urgent action to protect a plaintiff’s rights before a case can be resolved on its merits.” Id. That is why “district courts within this Circuit and elsewhere have found that a party’s failure to act with speed or urgency in moving for a preliminary injunction necessarily undermines a finding of irreparable harm.” Id. (citing cases). Although courts have generally considered delays of “a few months” or more as a factor against granting injunctive relief, id., a delay of two weeks in this particular context is significant. Typically, parties who seek the appointment of a special master following the execution of a search warrant make such requests immediately. For example, after FBI agents executed search warrants on April 9, 2018, at various properties belonging to Michael Cohen, who had served as private counsel to then-President Trump, Cohen’s counsel sent a letter on the same day to the United States Attorney’s Office requesting an opportunity to review the seized materials and contending that documents subject to attorney-client privilege “should be protected from government review.” After that request was denied, Cohen filed a motion for a temporary restraining