The Supreme Court temporarily blocked the House Ways and Means Committee from getting former President Donald Trump’s tax records on Tuesday.
Chief Justice John Roberts issued a stay on the ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit pending further action from either him or the full court. He also asked the House Ways and Means Committee to file a response to Trump’s request by Nov. 10.
“It is ordered that the mandate of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit … is hereby stayed pending further order of the undersigned or of the Court,” Roberts wrote.
Last week, the appeals court in Washington, D.C. refused Trump’s request to reconsider a three-judge appellate panel’s ruling in Trump’s case against the House Ways and Means Committee. The lower court had ruled that the case should not be reheard en banc, and that the decision to allow the disclosure of his tax records to the committee should not be put on hold pending further litigation, CBS reported.
Trump filed an emergency request to the Supreme Court on Monday.
His lawyers argued that the House Ways and Means Committee argument for needing Trump’s tax returns does not stand up to scrutiny.
“This case raises important questions about the separation of powers that will affect every future President,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. “The Committee’s purpose in requesting President Trump’s tax returns has nothing to do with funding or staffing issues at the IRS and everything to do with releasing the President’s tax information to the public.