Supreme Court rules Manhattan prosecutor can access Trump financial records
Written by Sunlight Radio America on July 11, 2020
Washington — The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Manhattan’s chief prosecutor can obtain troves of President Trump’s business records and tax returns, a momentous defeat for the president in his efforts to shield his personal financial information from state investigators.
The high court ruled 7-2 in favor of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who is conducting a criminal investigation into the president’s business dealings and hush-money payments made to two women who allegedly had affairs with the president years before he was elected. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, appointed to the high court by Mr. Trump, joined the majority, while Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented. The justices sent the dispute back to the lower courts for further proceedings.
“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,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. “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.”
Read the court’s opinion here
Vance is seeking business records and tax returns dating back to 2011 from Mazars USA, Mr. Trump’s longtime accounting firm. But the president and his attorneys had rebuffed Vance’s efforts to obtain his financial information, arguing the president has “absolute immunity” from state criminal proceedings while in office. The high court, however, rejected Mr. Trump’s assertion of absolute immunity from state criminal subpoenas.
In a statement after the ruling, Vance hailed the decision as “a tremendous victory for our nation’s system of justice and its founding principle that no one — not even a president — is above the law.”
“Our investigation, which was delayed for almost a year by this lawsuit, will resume, guided as always by the grand jury’s solemn obligation to follow the law and the facts, wherever they may lead,” the district attorney said.
Source: CBS
