SUPREME COURT AT A CROSSROADS AS IT DECIDES ON 3 TRUMP CASES

The US Supreme Court is at a crossroads as it hears arguments on three cases that involve President Trump, two of which involve his accountants Mazars LLP and his banks led by Deutsche Bank while the last cover a case lodged by the State of New York seeking his tax records, said Bill Blum of the Independent Media Institute in his article “The Supreme Court Is Set to Decide If Donald Trump Is Above the Law” published on May 10, 2020 in Truthout.  

Trump has been feuding with the House of Representatives over the Mazars and Deutsche Bank cases and has sought to have the cases dismissed but inferior courts argued that his tax records cannot be hidden from lawmakers who have oversight functions to seek all documents needed in crafting legislation against fraud, ethical abuses and political chicanery, Blum wrote. In the New York case, which was filed by District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. for the Southern District of New York, the state seeks Trump’s tax records as it investigates instances of fraud and illegal use of campaign funds, which are state offenses that Trump cannot kill on the basis of his so-called immunity from suit.

Under the 10th Amendment, all functions not specified by the Constitution to be within the ambit of the federal government are deemed to be within the responsibility of states and a decision favoring Vance and the State of New York would unleash a flood of tax records from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that can also be used by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives.

Weak as his legal posture is, Trump may yet salvage a win in the Mazars LLP and Deutsche Bank case if the conservative Supreme Court justices would refuse to rule inasmuch as the battle over unanswered subpoena issued by the House of Representatives was a “political dispute” and not a question of Trump’s invoking Amendment 2 to justify his acting like a tyrant and declaring himself and his surrogates immune from suit.