President Trump’s appeal of a subpoena from House Democrats to turn over his financial records will be heard by a court where former Supreme Court pick Merrick Garland is the chief judge.
Garland serves as the chief judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Trump’s lawyers are asking that court to review a federal judge’s order allowing House Oversight and Reform Committee’s subpoena to move forward.
Garland’s Supreme Court nomination by former President Barack Obama in 2016 became a lightning rod for controversy when the Republican-controlled Senate, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, refused to hold a hearing on his nomination until after the 2016 presidential election.
When Trump won the presidency, he appointed Neil Gorsuch to to the Supreme Court seat vacated by Associate Justice Antonin Scalia following Scalia's death.
Garland ultimately ended up remaining on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Appeals are heard by panels with three judges, so there is no guarantee that Garland will hear the case regarding Trump’s financial records.
Commitee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) issued the subpoena earlier this year after Democrats took control of the House. He is seeking Trump's financial records to be turned over from accounting firm Mazars.
President Trump’s attorneys on Tuesday appealed a federal judge’s order upholding a subpoena for Trump’s financial records.
The lawyers said in a court filing that they were asking the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to review “all aspects” of District Judge Amit Mehta’s order in favor of the subpoena issued by the House Oversight and Reform Committee to the president’s accounting firm, Mazars.
Mehta, an Obama appointee, had rejected the president's legal arguments opposing the subpoena, finding that House Democrats had "facially valid legislative purposes" in requesting the documents and that "it is not for the court to question whether the Committee’s actions are truly motivated by political considerations."
Trump's attorneys had argued that the subpoena was part of a fishing expedition by congressional Democrats in search of damaging information ahead of the 2020 election.
Mehta had also rejected the president's request for a stay on the order, writing that he will only allow a seven-day waiting period previously agreed to by both parties to be in effect before Mazars has to hand over the records.
The president said Monday evening that his lawyers would appeal what he called a "crazy" ruling.
“It’s totally the wrong decision by, obviously, an Obama-appointed judge," Trump told reporters outside the White House.
Trump's attorneys will be in federal court in New York on Wednesday to argue against other subpoenas issued by House Democrats for the president's financial records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One.
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