US President Donald Trump’s legal team argued to the Supreme Court Justices against the ‘unprecedented’ attempt by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives and a New York prosecutor to have access to the president’s financial records and tax documents saying Trump deserved “temporary presidential immunity”.
Trump has shielded his tax returns and other records long before he became president, while his opponents have launched legal inquiries into hush-money payments by his lawyers and potential violations of financial disclosure
Trump attorney Jay Sekulow told the court on Tuesday “we’re asking for temporary presidential immunity”
House Democrats say they need records from Trump’s longtime accounting firm and two banks to investigate a variety of issues ranging from alleged hush-money payments, illegal foreign involvement in a US campaign and potential violations of money laundering and ethics rules.
Trump’s lawyers sued to block the subpoenas by Democrats arguing that although they are directed to third parties — Mazars USA, Deutsche Bank and Capital One — they involve the President and members of his family and amount to an illegal invasion of privacy of the First family.
Although federal appeals courts have ruled against the President, Democrats say they need the documents even though the impeachment trial of the President ended in acquittal early this year.
The justices, looking at the case on Tuesday via teleconference call due to Covid-19 precautions, focused on Trump’s effort to shield his documents, but they also questioned the lawyers to look into the future and see how an eventual decision will impact the separation of powers between the Legislative and Executive branch of government.
When a lawyer for the House of Representatives argued in support of the subpoenas being issued, Chief Justice John Roberts asked the lawyer about the limits of congressional powers and suggested that the House needed to take into consideration the fact that the subpoenas involved, were not aimed at an ordinary litigant, but the President of the country.