After three years of legal battles, the U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for the transfer of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns to Congress.
court dismissed Mr Trump’s An urgent application for an order that would have prevented the Treasury Department from providing six years of tax returns from him and some of his businesses to the House Ways and Means Committee.
Mr Trump is the first president in four decades not to release his tax returns.
The Democratic-controlled committee first asked Trump to file his tax returns in 2019 as part of an investigation into the IRS audit program and the former president’s tax code compliance.
The Treasury Department has declined to provide records from Trump’s presidency, but President Joe Biden’s administration has said federal law makes clear that the committee has the authority to review any taxpayer’s returns, including the president’s.
The lower court agreed and rejected Mr. Trump’s contention that it overstepped its authority and that the committee only wanted the documents to be made public.
Chief Justice John Roberts imposed a temporary freeze on Nov. 1 to allow the court to weigh legal issues raised by Trump’s lawyers and rebuttals from the administration and the House.
But just over three weeks later, the justices rejected Trump’s emergency application, and none publicly dissented.
If Mr. Trump persuades the Supreme Court to intervene, he could run out of time for the committee until Republicans take control of the House in January, when they would almost certainly drop the records request.
What are Trump’s chances?
Third loss this year
It was Trump’s third Supreme Court defeat this year.
In October, he declined to intervene in the legal battle surrounding an FBI search of his Florida property, where classified documents were found.
In January, it refused to prevent the National Archives from turning over documents to a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
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Last week, Mr. Trump officially Launches third campaign for the presidency of the United Statessaying: “America’s comeback begins now.”
In announcing the news at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, he said that after four years in office, “everyone is doing great,” “the world is at peace,” and he “kept his word.”
“Two years ago we were a great country. Soon we will be a great country again,” the former US president added.