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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSupreme Court Blocks Subpoena of Trump's Financial Records for at Least 10 Days
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/trump-supreme-court-subpoena-mazars.htmlSupreme Court Blocks Subpoena of Trumps Financial Records for at Least 10 Days
By Mark Joseph Stern
Nov 25, 20197:09 PM
In an order issued on Monday night, the Supreme Court prevented the House of Representatives from obtaining Donald Trumps financial records. In a unanimous decision, the justices blocked a lower court ruling compelling Trumps former accounting firm, Mazars, to turn over the documents. Mondays order invites Trump to ask the court to hear the case on the meritssetting up a potential showdown between Congress and the president before the Supreme Court in 2020.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena for Trumps Mazars records in April as part of its investigation into presidential misconduct. At the time, the House was not pursuing an impeachment inquiry, but rather a host of urgent reforms. Michael Cohen had testified that the president engaged in financial malfeasance, and lawmakers sought Trumps records to help fashion new laws addressing ethics and conflicts of interest. The Supreme Court has long held that courts must honor a congressional subpoena issued pursuant to a legitimate legislative purpose. A federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the House subpoena easily met this lenient test.
But Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump nominee, dissented from the D.C. Circuits decision, crafting a novel theory that Congress may not investigate the president unless it does so pursuant to an impeachment inquiry. She added that the Houses decision to launch an impeachment inquiry does not matter because it cannot retroactively legitimize the subpoena. Backed by the Department of Justice, Trump appealed the D.C. Circuits decision to SCOTUS, urging the justices to adopt Raos bizarre argument and freeze the subpoena.
The Supreme Court did exactly that on Mondaywith a catch. If Trump wants to keep the subpoena on ice, he must ask the court to hear the case on the merits by Dec. 5 at noon. Otherwise, the order will expire, the D.C. Circuits decision will take effect, and Mazars will be obligated to respond to the subpoena. Moreover, if Trump makes this request but the justices decline to take the case, the order will still expire. So Trumps lawyers must now scramble to persuade the justices to hear this case in the coming months.
It is doubtful that the court would issue this unusual order if they planned to turn Trump away in a few weeks. More likely, the justices wanted to punt, putting off any real resolution for the time being. By doing so, however, they are only building anticipation for a fairly epic battle down the road. Presuming the justices take the case, they will hear arguments in the winter or spring and issue a decision by June, in the midst of the presidential campaign. Chief Justice John Robertswho is almost certainly the swing vote in this casewill soon have to decide whether to run interference for Trump or respect Congress oversight authority. This dispute will reveal whether Roberts is more faithful to the Constitution or the Trump administrations deranged view of unbridled executive power. There is good reason to believe that the chief justice will side with the rule of law.
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Supreme Court Blocks Subpoena of Trump's Financial Records for at Least 10 Days (Original Post)
babylonsister
Nov 2019
OP
cbdo2007
(9,213 posts)1. I think SC is going to take the case and rule against Trump...
I do t know what the law says here but Justice Roberts has got to be sick of this shit and wants to make a point.
triron
(22,011 posts)2. I certainly hope so. Otherwise we may be a monarchy soon.