The US Supreme Court has temporarily blocked the House Ways and Means Committee from obtaining six years of tax returns from former president Donald Trump and his eponymous real estate businesses after the ex-president requested an emergency stay of a lower court order allowing them access to the documents.
The temporary stay was granted by Chief Justice John Roberts, who is responsible for appeals of decisions from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Chief Justice Roberts also ordered the House of Representatives to respond to the ex-president’s appeal by 10 November.
The temporary reprieve for Mr Trump comes after lawyers for the twice-impeached former president filed an emergency appeal in which they claimed that allowing the Department of the Treasury to follow US law by turning over six years of his tax returns at the request of House Ways and Means chairman Ritchie Neal, a Democrat, would “undermine the separation of powers and render the office of the Presidency vulnerable to invasive information demands from political opponents in the legislative branch”.
The ex-president’s attorneys also argued that the a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia erred in not intervening on his behalf to overturn a district court ruling which would have allowed the Treasury to turn over his taxes to the House within days.
The district court had ruled that it could not take into account statements by members of Congress regarding Mr Trump’s tax returns when considering whether the House committee’s request was valid.
But Mr Trump’s lawyers said the committee’s request has no valid legislative purpose and is instead part of an attempt to expose the ex-president’s financial information.
“The Committee’s purpose in requesting President Trump’s tax returns has nothing to do with funding or staffing issues at the IRS and everything to do with releasing the President’s tax information to the public,” they said.
