The US Supreme Court, which often backed
The court’s terse two-sentence order Tuesday, letting a House committee get six years of Trump’s tax returns, marked the fourth time the justices have rejected him over documents since he left office. The cases have produced only a single public dissenting vote from a court that has a 6-3 conservative majority and three Trump appointees.
The latest order gave Democrats a victory after a years-long battle, as the court
The decision came barely a month after the justices
In February, the justices
“It would be easy to read some broader repudiation of President Trump into these rulings, but it’s also worth emphasizing just how weak his arguments have been in each of these cases,” said
The Jan. 6 case produced the only public dissent -- a vote by Justice
Trump Blast
Trump blasted the court in a Truth Social post, saying it “has lost its honor, prestige, and standing, & has become nothing more than a political body.”
Trump pointed to the court’s refusal to overturn his 2020 election defeat. “Why would anybody be surprised that the Supreme Court has ruled against me, they always do!” Trump wrote.
As president, Trump had a good, though not perfect, record at the Supreme Court. The justices
Each case involved, in one form or another, the deference the court traditionally affords to sitting presidents so they can carry out their constitutional powers and responsibilities. But with Trump out of office, that deference has largely disappeared.
“Filings by a sitting president necessarily raise larger issues and often implicate unsettled questions of law than do claims by a private citizen who happens to be a former president,” said
No Explanation
Trump argued in the latest case that, as a former president, he was still entitled to special protection.
He said a federal appeals court decision against him “will undermine the separation of powers and render the office of the presidency vulnerable to invasive information demands from political opponents in the legislative branch.”
That argument got no apparent traction at the court, which rejected his request without explanation or any indication of dissent.
The Ways and Means Committee has been racing the calendar to obtain Trump’s tax returns before Republicans assume control of the House in January. A decision granting Trump’s request would have kept the records sealed until the new Congress convened.
“At long last the charade should today be over,” said Representative
There are calls in Congress to no longer give the nation’s chief executive deference on releasing personal financial information. “Now, the Congress must enact legislation requiring presidents and candidates for president to disclose their tax returns,” House Speaker
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Greg Stohr
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