A federal judge on Monday ordered the parties in a lawsuit over President Trump’s state tax returns to see if they can reach an agreement to prevent the case from becoming moot.
Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered Trump, the House Ways and Means Committee, and New York officials to confer and file a status report by 6 p.m. Tuesday that either outlines an agreement or lays out the parties’ positions if there’s no agreement.
Nichols issued the order after Trump filed an emergency motion last week. The motion asked the court to enjoin the Ways and Means Committee from requesting Trump’s state tax returns under a new New York law until the president has an opportunity for judicial review.
The Ways and Means Committee argued that the court lacks jurisdiction to bar it from requesting Trump’s state tax returns. It also argued that its decision about whether to utilize the New York law is protected against a legal challenge under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause.
Nichols said there seems to be a risk that without Trump receiving some sort of relief, the Ways and Means Committee could quickly request and receive Trump’s tax returns, making the case quickly ripe and then moot.
He said he thought it was problematic that the Ways and Means Committee and the New York officials weren’t committing to the court that they wouldn’t request and produce Trump’s state tax returns “tomorrow or Monday, or the Monday after.”
At the same time, Nichols said that it seems inappropriate to enjoin the committee from requesting Trump’s state tax returns because Trump wouldn’t be harmed by the request itself.
Nichols said he wanted the parties in the lawsuit to see if they could reach an agreement to provide relief to Trump that’s as modest as possible; that treads as lightly as possible, if at all, on concerns about separation of powers and the Speech or Debate Clause; and that preserves the ability for the court to adjudicate on the lawsuit only when more information is available.
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Judge orders parties in Trump tax returns lawsuit to try to reach a deal https://t.co/KfXtgZOw1s pic.twitter.com/lzDXWyPhfm
— The Hill (@thehill) July 30, 2019
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