President Trump’s attorneys Friday asked the Supreme Court to block a lower court order that would give House Democrats access to his tax records for their impeachment inquiry.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court temporarily halted the order while it decides whether or not it should hear Mr. Trump’s arguments.
The president’s attorneys said Friday the ban should be made permanent and it “is not a close question.”
The Supreme Court’s emergency order put on hold a subpoena the House Oversight and Reform Committee issued to Mr. Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA. Democrats say the documents are necessary because it is investigating whether the president committed financial fraud as part of the impeachment inquiry.
But Trump attorney Jay Sekulow told the court that simply isn’t true because the subpoena was issued before the inquiry started.
“These documents, in sum, are not even ‘potentially…relevant to that inquiry,’” Mr. Sekulow wrote in the petition. “The House’s impeachment-based desire to be fully informed with all the information to which it is entitled simply has nothing to do with this case.”
Mr. Sekulow also urged the court to hold arguments on the dispute.
“This is a significant separation-of-powers clash between the president and Congress,” he wrote.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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