Opinion| Lawrence David| Despite the media’s narrative engineer’s exaltations that their Marxist heroes Nancy Pelosi, Jerrold Nadler, Adam Schiff, et al., that the Supreme Court has given Democrats permission to run rampant through ten years of President Trump’s personal tax returns, that is not the case.
The court held only that president’s do not hold absolute immunity from prosecution while in office.
“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. The “guard[] furnished to this high officer” lies where it always has—in “the conduct of a court” applying established legal and constitutional principles to individual subpoenas in a manner that preserves both the independence of the Executive and the integrity of the criminal justice system. Burr, 25 F. Cas., at 34.
“The arguments presented here and in the Court of Appeals were limited to absolute immunity and heightened need. The Court of Appeals, however, has directed that the case be returned to the District Court, where the President may raise further arguments as appropriate.”
The Justices remanded the case back to the District Court where the plaintiffs must now prove a valid reason exists to underpin the subpoena, and that this is not simply political harassment of a political opponent.
“When Congress seeks information “needed for intelligent legislative action,” it “unquestionably” remains “the duty of all citizens to cooperate.” Watkins, 354 U. S., at 187 (emphasis added). Congressional subpoenas for information from the President, however, implicate special concerns regarding the separation of powers. The courts below did not take adequate account of those concerns. The judgments of the Courts of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit and the Second Circuit are vacated, and the cases are remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
In other words… the president’s opponents must prove to the court enough evidence of criminal activity exists that the president’s tax returns are needed to close the loop.
Not likely.
For now, the president lives to fight another day.
Knowing the partisan nature of those who have been conducting one baseless investigation into the president after the other, it appears unlikely Trump’s opponents suddenly have any legitimate reason with which to now convince the court this ask has any merit.
Since the high court left open the opportunity for President Trump to raise other objections, the chances of this winding its way back through the courts before, again being heard by the Supreme Court prior to the November 3rd election is virtually nil.
Once the election passes, the potential political mayhem Democrats hoped to reap from the president’s tax returns, passes.
Aside from innuendo that the president’s opponents might have been able to create from President Trump’s tax returns, there’s little chance any actual legal violations were committed since they would have been made public by Obama’s spymasters who had been given complete access to everyone’s IRS records years ago.
If, control of the Congress changes hands – a likely possibility – a new Republican-led Congress can simply abandon the case.
