The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday said it won’t block a Democratic-led House Committee from seeing former President Trump’s tax returns.
The ruling lets stand a DC Circuit court decision permitting their release to the House Ways and Means Committee. It was issued in a brief order noting that no dissenting votes means the committee can try to access the documents before Republicans take over the House in January.
Earlier this month, Chief Justice John Roberts had blocked the committee from temporarily gaining access to the former President’s taxes while Trump’s lawyers gained information about the IRS’ auditing process.
Tax returns are confidential under federal law, but there are some exceptions. For instance, a Congressional committee chair is permitted to request them.
Other than Trump, all other U.S. Presidents going back to Richard Nixon have voluntarily made their tax returns public, as have many Presidential candidates.
