United States Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily prevented a House committee from obtaining Former President Donald Trump's tax returns, delaying the struggle over what he perceives as a politically driven request.
The chief justice's order preserves the status quo as the Supreme Court considers Trump's emergency request, made on Monday, to overturn a lower court decision that supported the House panel's request for the tax documents as a legitimate part of its law-making process, while his counsel prepares an appeal, according to Reuters.
Trump Tax Returns Being Blocked
Chief Justice Roberts instructed Democrats to respond to Trump's appeal by November 10. Recent days have seen a surge of extraordinary applications relating to Donald Trump, and the justice with authority over the lower courts has chosen to grant a short-term remedy, CNN reported.
For instance, on October 26, Justice Elena Kagan granted such a stay, temporarily preventing the House Select Committee looking into the attacks of January 6, 2021, from obtaining the phone and text documents of Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward.
Donald Trump was the first president in 40 years not to disclose his tax returns to keep his riches and firm's actions hidden. The committee initially filed suit against Trump in 2019 to obtain access to his tax returns, and the case is still ongoing. US House Democrats want to investigate if the IRS is effectively auditing presidential records and if additional legislation is needed.
But Trump lawyers alleged that the committee was established with the intention of "publicly disclosing President Trump's tax information" for the sake of exposure." Trump's legal team has criticized this justification, calling it "pretextual" and "disingenuous," and claiming that the real goal is to uncover politically damaging information about former US President Trump, who is considering another run for the presidency in 2024.
On Monday, Trump filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court asking that the release of the information remain until the court decides whether to hear his appeal. With the midterm elections next week and the likelihood of a Republican takeover of the House, the committee is in a race against time to collect the data.
House Democrats Stand Firm in The Case
CNN reports that in 2019, the IRS originally resisted sending up the tax returns after being requested by the committee chairman, Massachusetts Democrat Richard Neal. The case went slowly until 2021 when the Justice Department changed its legal stance and said the IRS must cooperate with the committee's request.
The US DC Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to overturn a decision made in favor of the House late last year by a judge appointed by Trump, most recently with the whole appeals court refusing to hear the case.
Bloomberg reported that the committee spokesperson, "Dylan Peachey, stated that the Ways and Means Committee maintains that "the law is on our side, and will file a timely response as requested." She said that the chairman of the committee expects the US Supreme Court's "expeditious consideration" of the request.
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