President Trump filed an appeal to stay Thursday’s district court decision ordering his tax returns be delivered to Cy Vance’s office, but attorneys don’t think it will be successful.
Attorneys representing President Donald Trump have once again asked a federal appellate court to intervene in what may be the final chance to keep the president’s financial records private. Trump on Thursday filed an emergency appeal with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals just minutes after a federal judge in New York City dismissed the president’s second attempt to withhold his tax returns and other financial records from Manhattan Attorney General Cy Vance. However, as the issue has already been heavily scrutinized and indeed reached the Supreme Court earlier this summer, most attorneys believe the latest appeal has very little chance of success. Southern District of New York (SDNY) Judge Victor Marrero issued a lengthy 103-page decision and order dismissing Trumps case, reasoning that the president did little more than reassert the “absolute immunity” argument that had already been rejected by the Supreme Court. “Although the Supreme Court’s opinion roundly denied the President’s invocation of generalized categorical immunity to justify his refusal to comply with the state grand jury subpoena, in the [second amended complaint] the President has asserted claims the tenor and practical effect of which could be to engender a form of presidential immunity by default,” Marrero noted.
