The panel included Judge William H. Pryor, the former attorney general of Alabama, who was nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush. The other two judges on the panel, Andrew L. Brasher and Britt C. Grant, are Trump nominees. They also were on the three-judge panel that ruled against Trump earlier this fall on limited aspects of the special master appointment, restoring access for criminal investigators to the 103 documents with classified markings.

"In considering these arguments, we are faced with a choice: apply our usual test; drastically expand the availability of equitable jurisdiction for every subject of a search warrant; or carve out an unprecedented exception in our law for former presidents," the Thursday opinion read. "We choose the first option. So the case must be dismissed."