Chief Justice John Roberts Temporarily Blocks Turnover Of Trump Tax Records To Congress

NBC News reports, Chief Justice Roberts temporarily blocks release of Trump’s tax records to House Democrats:

Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday temporarily blocked a congressional committee from accessing former President Donald Trump’s tax records.

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

Trump’s lawyers say the House Ways and Means Committee’s assertion that it needs the information to probe how the IRS conducts the auditing process for presidents does not stand up to scrutiny.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declined Thursday to reconsider a three-judge panel’s ruling in August that the committee could obtain the tax returns.

Without Supreme Court intervention, the appeals court ruling was due to go into effect Thursday. In the brief order, Roberts said the case would remain on hold until the court acts and asked the committee to file a response to Trump’s request by Nov. 10.

“The Ways and Means Committee maintains the law is [clearly] on our side, and will file a timely response as requested,” committee spokesperson Dylan Peachey said. “Chairman Neal looks forward to the Supreme Court’s expeditious consideration.”

Tax returns are confidential under federal law, but there are some exceptions, one of which allows the chairman of the House Ways and Means 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. Neal 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 [Steve Mnuchin’s] control, [obstructed Congress] refused to comply, saying Neal did not have a valid purpose, prompting the committee to sue.

Following the election of Joe Biden, the Treasury Department said it would comply last year, but Trump himself objected. A federal judge ruled in December 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 statute is unconstitutional because it is overly broad, and that the Biden administration’s decision to disclose the materials was an unconstitutional form of retaliation that violates Trump’s First Amendment rights.

All bullshit arguments. As tax expert David Cay Johnston explained in an earlier post, Treasury Secretary and IRS Commissioner are in legal jeopardy (April 2019) (excerpts):

Under Section 6103 of our tax code, Treasury officials “shall” turn over the tax returns “upon written request” of the chair of either congressional tax committee or the federal employee who runs Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation. No request has ever been refused[.]

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There are no qualifiers in Section 6103 that shield Trump from delivering, in confidence, his tax returns to Congress. No wiggle room at all.

Another provision in our tax code, Section 7214(a), provides that “Any officer or employee of the United States acting in connection with any revenue law of the United States… who with intent to defeat the application of any provision of this title fails to perform any of the duties of his office or employment… shall be dismissed from office or discharged from employment and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $10,000, or imprisoned not more than 5 years or both.”

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The good-conduct provisions of the tax law are as broad as they are severe.  Significantly, it doesn’t just affect IRS auditors and collections officers. It applies to any federal employee—which means Trump as well as Mnuchin and Rettig—who “fails to perform any of the duties” they are assigned.

It also applies to any federal employee “who conspires or colludes with any other person to defraud the United States; or who makes opportunity for any person to defraud” the government. This provision could also hit Mike Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff and Trump’s budget director, given his reckless statements on Fox News, which some call Trump TV.

The law covers official inaction, too. Anyone who “omits” his duty “shall” be removed and may be prosecuted as a felon.

So any attorney at the Department of Justice and Treasury who foolishly signed their names to this bullshit legal advice to Mnuchin can be charged as well.

Moreover, a confidential Internal Revenue Service legal memo agrees, concluding that tax returns must be given to Congress unless the president takes the rare step of asserting executive privilege, according to a copy of the memo obtained by The Washington Post.

So this is Chief Justice John Roberts giving Trump what he wants – delaying a valid court order – to allow him to make another frivolous appeal to “his judges” on the U.S. Supreme Court, when the law is clear and has been fully litigated, and there are no significant issues raised on appeal. No one else in America would get such special treatment from the U.S. Supreme Court. This makes a mockery of the frieze on the Supreme Court, “Equal Justice Under Law.”