The Supreme Court on Thursday, July 9, 2020 ruled that Manhattan's chief prosecutor can obtain President Trump's business records and tax returns and President Trump is not immune from New York’s subpoena, but prosecutor will not get documents now.
The high court ruled 7-2 in favor of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who is conducting a criminal investigation into the president's business dealings and hush-money payments made to two women who allegedly had affairs with the president years before he was elected. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.
"Two hundred years ago, a great jurist of our Court established that no citizen, not even the President, is categorically above the common duty to produce evidence when called upon in a criminal proceeding. We reaffirm that principle today and hold that the President is neither absolutely immune from state criminal subpoenas seeking his private papers nor entitled to a heightened standard of need," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority.
But SCOTUS blocked Congress from getting Trump financial records. The House subpoenas for President Trump’s financial documents will remain blocked the Supreme Court said, sending a controversial case back down to the lower court for further review.
This process will begin again. The district court will get briefings. They may hear evidence. That will be appealed to the second circuit court of appeals and then the losing party can go back to the Supreme Court. All of this will take a while, so it will be awhile before prosecutors get these documents. Furthermore, as we are in July and the election takes place in November, it seems unlikely that the actual documents will be turned over to the grand jury before November.
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Sources:
Read more at: Tax Times blog
