Still no action from SCOTUS on Trump's emergency request for subpoena relief in tax records case
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The U.S. Supreme Court is taking its time with an emergency request by former President Donald Trump to block a subpoena for his tax records.
It’s been nearly four months since the high court was asked to block the subpoena as overly broad and issued in bad faith, CNN reports.
The case is back before the Supreme Court after it ruled in July that a president is not automatically and absolutely immune from state criminal subpoenas. The case returned to the trial court, where Trump asserted his new objections to the subpoena by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.
Vance is said to be investigating hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. A legal filing in August suggested that the probe could be broader.
According to CNN, the delay “marks an extraordinary departure” from the Supreme Court’s usual practice of quickly dealing with emergency requests.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. “may be trying to appease dueling factions among the nine justices, to avoid an order that reinforces a look of partisan politics,” the CNN story reports. “Yet paradoxically, the unexplained delay smacks of politics and appears to ensnarl the justices even more in the controversies of Trump.”
Trump’s legal team, meanwhile, is reportedly preparing a cert petition in the case, which could further delay a decision.
