Supreme Court to hear clash over Trump tax, bank records
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is taking up President Donald Trump’s bid to keep his tax, bank and financial records private, a major clash over presidential accountability that could affect the 2020 presidential campaign.
The justices are to hear arguments by telephone Tuesday morning in two cases about subpoenas from congressional committees and the Manhattan district attorney. The court, where six justices are age 65 or older, has been meeting by phone because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Rulings against the president could lead to the campaign season release of personal financial information that Trump has kept shielded from investigators and the public.
The cases resemble earlier disputes over presidents’ assertions that they were too consumed with the job of running the country to worry about lawsuits and investigations. In 1974, the justices acted unanimously in requiring President Richard Nixon to turn over White House tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor. In 1997, another unanimous court allowed a sexual harassment lawsuit to go forward against President Bill Clinton.
In those cases, three Nixon appointees and two Clinton appointees, respectively, voted against the president who chose them for the high court. The current court has two Trump appointees, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Appellate courts in Washington and New York have ruled that the documents should be turned over, but those rulings have been put on hold pending a final court ruling. The appellate decisions brushed aside the president’s broad arguments, focusing on the fact that the subpoenas were addressed to third parties asking for records of Trump’s business and financial dealings as a private citizen, not as president.
House committees want records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One, as well as the Mazars...
