US President Donald Trump arrives to speak about the administration’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing plan at the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, September 28, 2020.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
A federal appeals court on Wednesday kicked a legal battle over President Donald Trump’s financial statements to a lower court, further delaying House Democrats’ efforts to obtain years of personal and business data from the president.
In its ruling, a panel of three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit overruled a previous district court ruling and joined a Supreme Court ruling over the summer ordering lower judges to question to consider powers more carefully. in the case.
Two of those appellate judges were appointed by Democratic presidents and one was appointed by Trump.
The House Oversight and Reform Committee had issued a subpoena in 2019 for the Trump administration for eight years from the Mazars USA accounting firm. The Democratic majority of the panel said it was seeking the data as part of its legislative and supervisory duties, and as part of ongoing investigations.
Trump’s lawyers have tried to block the release of the data, arguing that Congress was on a fishing expedition to hurt him politically.
A US district court and federal appeals panel had previously upheld the subpoena. But the Supreme Court in July expressed concern about the division of powers between the legislative and executive branches of the government.
In their brief verdict on Wednesday, the appellate judges noted that they “do not express an opinion on whether this case will become negotiable when the subpoena ends, or on the merits of the parties’ arguments.”
The Oversight panel said Chairman Carolyn Maloney, DN.Y., plans to reissue the subpoena to Mazars at the start of the next Congress.
“It remains critical that the Oversight Commission – and the House in general – is able to bring about a prompt enforcement of a subpoena without the risk that investigative subjects will thwart its efforts by delaying the lawsuit,” said counsel for the commission earlier in December against the court of appeal.
A spokeswoman for the Oversight Committee did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the appeal court’s decision. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.