The Supreme Court on Monday said it will not speed up the process for getting the legal battle with House Democrats over President Donald Trump’s business records back into the lower courts.
The House legal counsel asked the court to immediately put into effect its decision earlier this month, which said that while the president did not have an absolute right to refuse to comply with legitimate congressional subpoenas for documents, Congress also did not have unlimited authority to seek materials from a president, because its demands must be connected to a legitimate legislative purpose.
In a one-sentence order, the court declined the House’s request. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said she would have granted it.
Supreme Court decisions ordinarily do not have have legal effect until 25 days after the rulings are issued, which in this case would be August 3. The three House committees that sought Trump’s taxes and other records told the Supreme Court that their investigations “are ongoing, remain urgent, and have been impeded by the lack of finality in these litigations, which were initiated in April 2019.”
