President Trump’s appeal of a subpoena from House Democrats to turn over his financial records will be heard by a court where snubbed Supreme Court pick Merrick Garland is the chief judge.
Garland serves as the chief judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Trump’s lawyers are asking that court to review a federal judge’s order allowing the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s subpoena to move forward.
Garland’s Supreme Court nomination by former President Obama in 2016 became a lightning rod for controversy when the Republican-controlled Senate, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), refused to hold a hearing on his nomination until after the 2016 presidential election.
When Trump won the presidency, he appointed Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court seat vacated by Associate Justice Antonin Scalia following Scalia’s death.
Garland ultimately ended up remaining on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Appeals are heard by panels with three judges, so there is no guarantee Garland will hear the case regarding Trump’s financial records.
Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) issued the subpoena earlier this year after Democrats took control of the House. He is seeking Trump’s financial records to be turned over from accounting firm Mazars.
Garland as a judge should be impartial. Cummings with a vindictive motive is asking for the details of Trump’s business dealings. It’s something private. The House need not probe private business affairs of Trump before he became president. House didn’t probe the financial dealings of the past presidents. Judge Garland will never make it as a personal issue because of the divided opinion over his nomination for the supreme court. As an impartial judge he will not yield to the vindictive demand of Cummings.
Agree that Garland will be impartial, but with details from the Mueller report in hand, Congress has every right to request the tax returns of a sitting president. Trump promised to release them and is the first president in decades to fail to do so.