Trending in the News The Supreme Court says Trump must hand over tax returns.
After three years of legal battles to keep his tax returns secret and out of the hands House Ways and Means Committee, The Supreme Court on Tuesday, November 22, 2022, removed the obstacle and required Donald J Trump to hand over six years of tax returns to the Committee.
Without any comment, the Court rejected Donald Trump’s plea to block the Treasury Department from giving six years of his and some of his businesses’ tax returns.
This was Trump’s second loss at the Supreme court in two months. In October, The Supreme Court threw out Trump’s lawsuit regarding the FBI’s search at Mara Lago that uncovered top secret documents.
A lower court had ruled that the Ways and Means Committee has the standing to obtain the tax returns. And rejected Trump’s claim that the Committee was overstepping and that the only reason the Committee wanted the document was to make them public.
On November 1, 2022, Chief Justice Roberts paused the case to allow the Court to weigh the legal arguments Trump’s lawyers would have presented and the counterarguments of the Biden administration and the House of Representatives.
The Court lifted the pause three weeks later without any dissents.
So all that screaming, kicking, ranting and raging, grandstanding and dodging and name-calling by the former president was all in vain. And his lawyers knew all along that the Legislature has broad authority to examine anybody’s tax returns for investigation purposes. But they played dumb and did whatever the former president wanted, even if it made them look amateurish.
Because, at the end of the day, Donald J Trump gets what he wants. But not this time. Still, it will be interesting to see what trick he pulls out of his hat. He is known for pulling rabbits out of his hats when everyone least expects him to. I am sure some witty lawyer is going through many law books to find something.