A three-panel federal appeals court has upheld a request from New York County’s District Attorney for President Donald Trump’s tax returns, likely sending the controversy to the United States Supreme Court.
District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. wants the tax returns from Mazars USA LLP, President Trump’s accounting firm, for a grand jury proceeding. On October 7, 2019, a federal district court rejected an injunction request from Trump’s attorneys, citing that it could abstain under a prior court ruling, Younger v. Harris (1971) and also that the President was not entitled to injunctive relief under a claim of presidential immunity from New York state’s criminal process.
Robert A. Katzmann, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, wrote for the court in an opinion released Monday morning appealing the October 7 decision. The Second Circuit appeals court in Trump v. Vance Jr. rejected the lower court’s decision to abstain under the Younger precedent, but it upheld the court’s take on Trump’s presidential immunity claim.
“The only question before us is whether a state may lawfully demand production by a third party of the President’s personal financial records for use in a grand jury investigation while the President is in office,” wrote Katzmann. “With the benefit of the district court’s well-articulated opinion, we hold that any presidential immunity from state criminal process does not bar the enforcement of such a subpoena.”
Shortly after today’s decision, Jay Sekulow, an attorney for President Trump, said Trump would appeal the Second Circuit ruling. “The decision of the Second Circuit will be taken to the Supreme Court. The issue raised in this case goes to the heart of our Republic. The constitutional issues are significant,” Sekulow said in a public statement.
At least four of the nine Supreme Court Justices would need to vote in private conference to accept the case.
Scott Bomboy is editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.
