U.S. judge orders New York not to release Trump’s state tax returns to House while lawsuit proceedsWashington Post, Aug 1, 2019
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While Trump’s attorneys said the committee has not yet requested the records, they had argued that without an emergency block “the President is in an intolerable situation: If he seeks relief after the Committee’s Chairman requests his state tax returns, the returns might be disclosed before he can be heard in court.â€
At the same time, deciding his full case now “could force the Court to prematurely decide constitutional issues that might otherwise be avoided,†wrote the president’s team, led by William S. Consovoy.
U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols, the newest member of the federal district court in Washington, sympathized with the president’s argument in hearings this week and asked all parties to come up with a solution.
“Mr. Trump raised the concern that his claims could become ripe and then moot almost instantaneously and without notice to him or the Court, thereby depriving the Court of jurisdiction to decide his claims,†Nichols concluded in a four-page order Âimplementing the proposal suggested by New York state officials.
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House General Counsel Douglas N. Letter urged Nichols to deny Trump’s requests and dismiss the House from the suit, saying the committee’s decision whether to use the new state law is “absolutely immune†from court review under the Constitution’s grant of legislative powers to Congress.
More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/us-judge-orders-new-york-not-to-release-trumps-state-tax-returns-to-house-while-lawsuit-proceeds/2019/08/01/c2b3c420-aefb-11e9-8e77-03b30bc29f64_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.cde01ba5213b
