The U.S. Supreme Court will begin to hear oral arguments on Tuesday on whether the Democratic-led House of Representatives and a New York prosecutor can subpoena Donald Trump’s financial records, including his taxes.
According to CNN, the arguments will bring up issues concerning separation of powers and Trump’s own claims of immunity, as he has, for years, tried to block access to his tax returns and other records.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, arguments will be conducted over the telephone by the justices, which include two of Trump’s own picks to the nation’s highest court.
Investigators have subpoenaed information from Trump’s longtime accounting firm Mazars, LLP, as well as two banks, namely Deutsche Bank and Capital One, for various financial records in three separate cases. Lower courts have ruled against Trump in all three cases being heard by the Supreme Court.
Depending on how the Supreme Court rules, these cases could have a long-lasting impact on presidential powers.
The first two cases that are to be heard together concern Trump and House Democrats, who claim that they need information from the banks and Mazars in order to investigate several issues including alleged hush-money payments, money laundering and illegal foreign interference in a campaign, CNN reports.
As Reuter’s notes, Trump’s lawyers have argued that Congress does not have the authority to issue subpoenas, and have claimed that House Democrats have no legislative reason for their subpoenas.
Meanwhile, in his New York case, his lawyers have claimed that the impeached president is immune from criminal proceedings while in office. More specifically, New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., is seeking Trump’s records as part of the investigation into his hush-money payments to two women with whom Trump had allegedly been having affairs, including porn star Stormy Daniels.