Chief Justice John Roberts granted a stay and temporarily blocks Donald Trump’s tax records from being turned over to Democrats in the House’s Ways and Means Committee.
In 2019, the House Committee requested, for the first time, six years of Trump's tax returns. In 2021, the Justice Department said Congress should be able to review the records, a decision that Trump and his legal team appealed.
Every court below the Supreme Court has ruled against Trump and reaffirmed the committee's authority to access the former president's taxes, prompting his legal team on Monday to ask the highest judicial body to prohibit the disclosure of his tax records.
Roberts' order asks the committee to respond by Thursday, November 10 at noon:
Upon consideration of the request of counsel for petitioners, it is ordered that the mandate of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Case No. 21-5289, is hereby stayed pending further order of the undersigned or the court.
The court order will give the court time to evaluate the appeal filed by Trump to keep his tax returns secret. Once the case is reviewed, a final decision will be issued.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts, said last week that Trump has "tried to delay the inevitable."
We have waited long enough, we must begin our oversight of the IRS mandatory presidential audit program as soon as possible.
