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U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington said in a
written order that under U.S. law, there was "only a narrow set
of cases that must skip to the front of the line," and that the
House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee had not shown
its lawsuit was one of them.
McFadden said that while he was not prejudging the case, Trump's
defenses "seem unlikely to be so trivial as to justify a rush to
the merits of the case."
In an Aug. 20 filing, the Democratic-led House Ways and Means
panel said that "time is of the essence" in resolving the case
it brought last month seeking to compel the Treasury Department
to hand over years of the Republican president’s individual and
business federal tax returns.
In the filing, lawyers for the committee said the current
Congress would end on Jan. 3, 2021, and that a prompt resolution
of issues in the case was needed to give the committee enough
time to investigate Trump's tax returns and pass any legislation
in response.
Justice Department attorneys, in coordination with Trump's
personal lawyers, had proposed a staged approach to hearing
arguments in the case that drew objections from the House
panel's legal team.
The committee filed the lawsuit after Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin defied congressional subpoenas seeking the returns,
despite a federal law that says the department “shall furnish”
such records on request.
The lawsuit began what is widely expected to be a lengthy legal
battle likely to end in the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Justice Department said in an advisory legal opinion in June
that the committee lacked a "legitimate legislative purpose" in
seeking Trump's tax returns, and that Mnuchin therefore did not
violate the law by refusing to provide them.
One of Trump's personal lawyers, Jay Sekulow, called the
committee's efforts "presidential harassment" last month.
Before Trump, modern U.S. presidential candidates customarily
disclosed their tax returns during their campaigns.
Ways and Means is one of half a dozen House committees
conducting investigations involving Trump and his
administration.
The White House is refusing to cooperate with most of them,
setting up several legal battles unfolding in the courts.
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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