Access to President Donald Trump’s financial records has become a flash point across multiple states as Democratic officials seek to pry them loose. | AP Photo/Gerald Herbert California Supreme Court appears poised to block Trump tax returns mandate

SACRAMENTO —The California Supreme Court appeared deeply skeptical Wednesday of a state law compelling Donald Trump and others to release their tax returns if they want to appear on primary ballots.

While the Democratically-controlled Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom argue that Senate Bill 27 would ensure elected officials of all parties are accountable to voters — particularly given Trump’s refusal to illuminate the workings of his business empire — critics called it a nakedly partisan attack on the president. Republican officials have warned it could swing other races in the upcoming March primary by suppressing turnout.


During oral arguments Wednesday in a challenge brought by the California Republican Party, justices repeatedly pressed California on the state’s contention that the Legislature has sweeping authority to impose conditions on ballot access. Justices suggested that position contradicted California’s constitutional guarantee of open primary elections, and Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said there was no evidence lawmakers had considered that imperative.

“We didn’t find anything. Did you?” Cantil-Sakauye asked.

Justices also mused repeatedly about the possibility of California imposing an escalating list of requirements to appear on the ballot — a slippery-slope argument that former Gov. Jerry Brown made in vetoing a similar bill before.

“Where does it end?” asked California Supreme Court Justice Ming Chin. “Do we get all the high school report cards? Do we get certified birth certificates?”

Access to Trump’s financial records has become a flash point across multiple states as Democratic officials seek to pry them loose. Earlier this week, a three-judge appeals panel sided with Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance in ruling that the president must turn over documents to a grand jury; Trump’s legal team has vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The House Ways and Means Committee is battling in court for Trump’s returns.

The president’s lawyers and the California Republican Party sued to block the law almost immediately and prevailed in a federal ruling earlier this year.

In his ruling blocking the law, Judge Morrison England noted that the measure was “primarily intended to force President Trump to disclose his tax returns,” concluding the law violates the Constitution’s election qualification rules while impinging on freedom of political association and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment.