Trump Granted Temporary Stay in House Tax Return Fray

By: Mary Katherine Browne

The Supreme Court has agreed to temporarily keep Treasury from releasing former President Trump’s tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee.

“Upon consideration of the application of counsel for the applicants, 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 of the Court,” Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. said in a November 1 order in Trump v. Committee on Ways and Means.

Without the stay, Treasury said it would have released six years of Trump’s individual and business tax returns to the taxwriting committee on November 3.

The committee has until noon on November 10 to file a response to the former president’s application.

Trump’s request followed the D.C. Circuit’s rejection of his motion for rehearing en banc, in which he claimed that the court erred in determining that the burden placed on a sitting president by the release of his tax returns wasn’t substantial enough to violate the separation of powers doctrine. The court held in August that the Ways and Means Committee’s request for the returns served a proper legislative purpose.

The House’s battle for Trump’s tax returns has continued for more than three years. Ways and Means Chair Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., requested the returns in April 2019, but then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin refused to comply with the subpoena, arguing that the request was disingenuous in its purpose.

A new request was filed in June 2021 stating that the committee was considering legislative proposals regarding tax laws and wanted to review the effectiveness of the presidential audit program. With a new secretary in Janet Yellen, Treasury said it would comply with the request.

Trump filed cross-claims in August 2021 against the request, arguing that separation of powers still applied and that Congress sought the returns for political reasons. Judge Trevor N. McFadden of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the cross-claims and counterclaims in December 2021. Trump appealed, and arguments were heard in March. The D.C. Circuit affirmed McFadden’s decision August 9.

In Trump v. Committee on Ways and Means, Sup. Ct. Dkt. No. 22A362 (2022), Trump is represented by attorneys from Consovoy McCarthy PLLC.