US Supreme Court Gives Prosecutors Access To Trump Records, Denies Access To Congress

US Supreme Court Gives Prosecutors Access to Trump Records, Denies Access to Congress

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th July, 2020) The US Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for prosecutors in New York to obtain President Donald Trump's tax returns, although the ruling also means that grand jury secrecy will probably keep the records from public view until after November's election.

In a separate ruling, the Supreme Court declined to enforce subpoenas from three congressional committees that sought much of the same information, sending the case back to lower courts that had ordered Trump to hand over the records.

Both decisions were backed by seven justices on the nine-member Supreme Court with two justices dissenting.

Writing for the Court, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that no citizen, not even the president, is exempt from the duty to produce evidence needed in a criminal investigation.

US corporate-owned media have characterized the opinion as a major ruling limiting the scope of presidential power, similar to rulings that forced former Presidents Richard Nixon to turn over recordings made in the Oval Office and Bill Clinton to turn over evidence in a sexual harassment case.

The ruling on the congressional subpoenas, also written by Roberts, citied the separation-of-powers doctrine in the US Constitution, which protects Congress and the presidency from each other.

"Without limits on its subpoena powers, Congress could exert an 'imperious control' over the Executive Branch and aggrandize itself at the President's expense, just as the Framers feared," the ruling stated.

The Supreme Court said lower courts had not given adequate consideration to the separation-of-powers doctrine.