Samuel Case, FISM News

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In the ongoing debate over President Donald Trump’s tax returns and speculation over what they may contain and why the president has guarded them so closely, the Supreme Court has made two rulings on the matter. Both rulings were decided 7-2 and were written by Chief Justice John Roberts. Justices Thomas and Alito dissented. 

The first decision ruled that President Trump is not “categorically immune” to having his records examined by a New York grand jury, thus rejecting his claim that a sitting president cannot be investigated in such a manner. In the second decision the court refused to carry out subpoenas brought by three congregational committees requesting the same documents. Ultimately cases both have been sent back to lower courts where they will face further litigation. 

Roberts wrote on the question of subpoenas, “Congressional subpoenas for the President’s personal information implicate weighty concerns regarding the separation of powers . . . Neither side, however, identifies an approach that accounts for these concerns.” While in the New York case he wrote, “In our judicial system, ‘the public has a right to every man’s evidence,’ . . . Since the earliest days of the Republic, ‘every man’ has included the President of the United States.”