What You Need To Know About The Trump Tax & Financial Records SCOTUS Rulings

[mfcorey1]

There were significant opinions released today by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in the matter of President Donald Trump's tax and financial records. The cases are Trump v. Vance and Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP (consolidated with Trump v. Deutsche Bank AG). Here's what you need to know.

Vance was filed on November 15, 2019, and argued May 12, 2020. The issue was whether a subpoena for the President's personal financial and tax records served on a third-party violates Article II and the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution found at Article VI.
Mazars was also filed on November 15, 2019, and argued May 12, 2020. The issue was similar: whether Congressional committees have the authority to issue a third-party subpoena for personal financial records belonging to the President.
A third case, Deutsche Bank, was filed on December 6, 2019. The issue was primarily the same as in Mazars (which is why it was consolidated).

Why so many cases at once? A little context on how we got here is warranted.

As you may recall, during the 2016 presidential campaign, then-candidate Trump famously refused to release copies of his tax returns. The failure to release the returns made news because, since the 1970s, most presidential candidates have voluntarily released their tax returns to the public.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2020/07/09/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-trump-tax--financial-records-scotus-rulings/#6f3d29417f55

[intrepidity]

1. I'm still confused

In Mazars, they disagreed with the lower court (which ruled against Trump).

SCOTUS agreed that Congress has an "indispensable" power to obtain information, since without it, "Congress would be unable to legislate wisely or effectively" (you can, on your own, debate whether that's what they're doing now). But that power, Roberts wrote, "is subject to several limitations." Notably, it must be related to a legitimate purpose and not another reason, like law enforcement - that power is assigned to the Executive and the Judiciary.

The part I'm concerned about is the role of Congress to "legislate" and not be involved in "law enforcement."

My question is: how do Congressional investigations, for example into potential impeachable offenses, proceed when they are strictly limited to issues surrounding legislation only?

[scarytomcat]

2. He lied and said would release them after the audit

We now know the IRS has not been doing tax audits of rich people for awhile.

[empedocles]

3. Very good. Thank you. For general purposes, we need to repeat often, the

Supreme Court rejected trump's claim of absolute immunity. 9-0. No dissent.

That's 9 - friggin' - 0, as in zero, No dissent from the SCOTUS usual supects alito-thomas, the Court ______s. None.