House Democrats urged the United States Supreme Court on Tuesday to speed up the process to bring the legal battle over President Donald Trump’s business records to lower courts.
The judges ruled last week that the President did not have the absolute right to refuse to comply with legitimate subpoenas from Congressional documents. But they also said that Congress does not have unlimited authority to search for materials from a president because their demands must be related to a legitimate legislative purpose.
Supreme Court decisions generally have no legal effect until 25 days after the decisions are issued. In Trump’s cases, that would be on August 3. But the three committees that sought Trump’s taxes and other records told the court that their investigations “are ongoing, remain urgent, and have been hampered by the lack of purpose in these litigation, which began in April 2019.” .
Since the term of the current House expires on January 3, the committees said their ability to continue the legal fight, “then obtain and review the cited documents, assess their relevance to potential or pending legislation, draft such legislation or amendments , and pastoring that legislation through the bicameral process decreases day by day. “
“Accelerating the final steps of the Supreme Court would advance rapidly in lower courts,” the lawmakers wrote, “so that committees can obtain the necessary materials to undertake the necessary legislative reforms as quickly as possible to address, among other issues, conflicts of interest that threatens to undermine the presidency, money laundering and unsafe lending practices, and foreign interference in the US election and any other continuing threats to national security stemming from President Trump’s foreign financial entanglements. “
Court President John Roberts ordered Trump’s attorneys to respond on Thursday afternoon.
