The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for the Internal Revenue Service to release former President Donald Trump’s tax returns to a Democratic-led House committee.
The court’s move is a major loss for Trump, who has sought to shield the release of his tax returns for years and is currently under multiple investigations. There were no noted dissents.
Trump’s legal team has continuously sought to keep his returns secret, and turned to the Supreme Court – composed of three of his nominees – after he lost at the lower court level. Chief Justice John Roberts, who supervises the lower court that issued the order in the Trump case, had placed a temporary hold on the subpoena on November 1, presumably to give the justices more time to consider the issue.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, a Massachusetts Democrat, first sought the tax returns from the IRS in 2019, and the agency, under the Trump administration, initially resisted turning them over. The case moved slowly until 2021, when, under the Biden administration, the Justice Department changed its legal posture and concluded the IRS was obligated to comply with the committee’s request.
This is a follow-up.
