The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected former President Donald Trump’s emergency appeal which would block House Democrats from accessing his tax returns. This decision opens the way for Trump’s tax returns to be released.
The appeal had been filed with the Supreme Court last month, following the decision of the lower court to not reverse its ruling that required Trump to submit his tax records to the House Ways and Means Committee.
Chief Justice John Roberts had ordered on Nov. 1 for the release of the documents to be halted until the court could consider the case.
House Democrats have been trying to get access to Trump’s financial records for years, claiming it is part of an investigation into the IRS’s way of conducting routine presidential audits. Both presidents and vice presidents have had routine audits conducted on them since 1977. However, Trump’s attorneys have maintained that the move has been politically driven.
In a statement sent to the court in October, he had written that this request was only concerned with Trump’s tax returns becoming released to the public and that it was not actually concerned with looking into the IRS’s funding and staffing issues.
Despite the Supreme Court’s decision, the extent to which these documents will be useful, as well as the speed with which they will be released is unclear. House Republicans can also withdraw the request once they take control of the House in January.
Trump had previously broken the tradition of having his tax returns released publicly. This is usually a common practice for presidential nominees.
Federal law requires tax returns to remain confidential unless a set of exceptions applies. One of these includes receiving a written request from the House Ways and Means Committee.
