House Judiciary Committee lawyers on Monday urged a federal appeals court to quickly order the release of information Democrats argue is key to deciding whether President Donald Trump should be impeached and removed from office.

In filings for cases seeking the information—grand jury materials from the Mueller probe and testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn—the House lawyers said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit should take swift actions that would allow lawmakers to see that information and hear McGahn's testimony.

"The Court should vacate its administrative stay and affirm the district court's order without delay, such as by immediately vacating the stay and issuing the Court's order, with an opinion to follow in due course," House lawyers wrote in the brief arguing for McGahn's testimony.

They echoed that sentiment over the Mueller grand jury materials. The lawyers noted that the three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit—Judges Neomi Rao, Thomas Griffith and Judith Rogers—have already heard arguments for a stay in the case.

If the administrative stay is allowed to remain in place, it will have been in place for 10 weeks by the time oral arguments are heard on the merits of the appeal in January, the House attorneys said Monday.

"The court should not countenance DOJ's effort to run out the clock on impeachment, and should affirm Chief Judge Howell's decision without delay," the lawyers wrote.

U.S. Chief District Judge Beryl Howell of the District of Columbia ruled in October that the House Judiciary Committee should be able to obtain the Mueller grand jury materials as part of the impeachment probe. Weeks later, U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the District of Columbia ruled that McGahn can be compelled to testify before the congressional panel.

Both district court judges denied motions from the Justice Department to stay their orders, noting that the impeachment inquiry was moving swiftly, and that the committee needed the information as it decided whether to push forward with articles of impeachment. Those decisions were overruled by administrative stays granted by the D.C. Circuit.

The House Judiciary Committee on Friday advanced articles of impeachment against Trump along party lines. Both articles—for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress—stem from the House Intelligence Committee's investigation into whether Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden while withholding military aid from the country.

Both the McGahn and Mueller grand jury materials cases reach back to special counsel Robert Mueller's probe. The Mueller investigation was briefly referenced in the articles of impeachment, but does not figure prominently in the allegations being made in favor of Trump's removal from office.

The House Rules Committee will hold a markup of the articles Tuesday, clearing the way for a House vote Wednesday.

The requests for quick action in the impeachment-related cases echo arguments from House Judiciary Democrats, who said they could not go to court for documents and testimony in the impeachment inquiry because it would effectively run out the clock ahead of the 2020 election. The lawmakers said Trump is too big of a danger to allow him to remain in office and that he is undermining the integrity of the upcoming election.

In the Mueller grand jury filing Monday, the House said the information could be used for a Senate impeachment trial if the House passes the articles of impeachment.

And the congressional attorneys said the Judiciary Committee's impeachment inquiry will continue, "in part because obstruction by the Trump administration has left many critical questions about the president's conduct unanswered."

"Material that the Committee obtains in this litigation could be used in that investigation as well," the House lawyers wrote.

The D.C. Circuit will hear arguments in both cases Jan. 3. Griffith and Rogers will be on both panels; Rao will rule in the Mueller grand jury case, but Judge Karen Henderson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will be the third judge on the McGahn panel.

The Mueller panel of judges also threw another twist in the case Friday, when they asked for supplemental briefing on whether the House has standing to sue for the materials redacted from Mueller's report. Those filings are due Dec. 23.

Read more: