World enews: Trump asks Supreme Court to block release of tax records to House Democrats

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump on Monday asked the Supreme Court to block a congressional committee from accessing his tax records as a long-running legal battle reaches its final stage.

Trump, who unlike other recent presidents refused to make his tax returns public amid scrutiny of his business affairs, turned to the justices after an appeals court in Washington refused to intervene. The court has recently rejected similar requests made by Trump.

Trump’s lawyers say the committee’s stated purpose that it needed the information to probe how the Internal Revenue Service conducts the auditing process for presidents did not stand up to scrutiny.

“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,” the lawyers wrote in the court filing.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Thursday declined to reconsider a three-judge panel’s ruling from August that said the House Ways and Means Committee could obtain the tax returns.

The appeals court’s decision not to reconsider its ruling means the tax returns will be disclosed if the Supreme Court does not immediately intervene.

Under federal law, tax returns are kept confidential but there are some exceptions, including one that allows the chairman of the committee to request them.

The legal battle began in April 2019, when Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the chairman of the committee, asked for Trump’s returns and those of related business entities. He said he sought the information as part of the committee’s inquiries into whether tax law concerning presidents should be amended.

The Treasury Department, then under Trump’s control, refused to comply, saying Neal did not have a valid purpose, prompting the committee to sue.

Following the election of President Joe Biden, the Treasury Department in 2021 said it would comply, but Trump himself objected. A federal judge ruled in Dec. 2021 that the request was lawful, causing Trump to appeal.

Among other things, Trump claims not just that the request is invalid but also that the statue is unconstitutional because it is overly broad and that the Biden decision to disclose the materials was an unconstitutional form of retaliation that violates Trump’s First Amendment rights.

Democrats have been calling for Trump to release his tax returns ever since the 2016 presidential campaign. While no law requires presidential candidates to release their tax returns but it has become the norm for both Democrats and Republicans to do so.

In a separate case, the Trump Organization — Trump’s closely-held company — is currently on trial over allegations it was involved in a 15-year scheme to compensate top executives “off the books” to help them evade taxes.

Trump continues to face other legal battles, including in the House committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by his supporters. The committee has issued a subpoena seeking Trump’s testimony.

Although the Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices he appointed, Trump has not recently fared well in other such emergency applications, including his attempt to prevent White House documents from being handed over to House Jan. 6 committee and his bid to avoid the disclosure of his financial records to prosecutors in New York. Most recently, the court on Oct. 13 rejected Trump’s request that a special master be allowed to review classified papers seized from his Mar-a-Lago residence.

Lawrence Hurley covers the Supreme Court for NBC News Digital.