“While I recognize the political attractiveness – even the merits – of getting President Trump’s tax returns, I worry about the political perils of individual states seeking to regulate presidential elections in this manner,” Gov. Jerry Brown wrote in a veto message. | Valerie Macon/Getty Images Jerry Brown vetoes bill to pry loose Trump's tax returns

LOS ANGELES — Rebuking fellow Democrats’ latest volley at President Donald Trump, California Gov. Jerry Brown late Sunday vetoed legislation that would have forced presidential candidates to make their tax returns public before appearing on the state ballot.

The veto, in which Brown cautioned against setting a “’slippery slope' precedent,” marked a setback for Democrats and open-government advocates trying to uncover Trump’s tax returns at the state level.


“While I recognize the political attractiveness – even the merits – of getting President Trump’s tax returns, I worry about the political perils of individual states seeking to regulate presidential elections in this manner,” Brown wrote in a veto message. “First, it may not be constitutional. Second, it sets a ‘slippery slope’ precedent. Today we require tax returns, but what would be next? Five years of health records? A certified birth certificate? High school report cards? And will these requirements vary depending on which political party is in power?”

California’s Democratic-controlled legislature passed the tax-disclosure measure last month, after similar efforts stalled in other states. Yet its legal force was in question even before Brown's veto, announced just before midnight on California's bill-signing deadline.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that states cannot add to the qualifications for U.S. Senate or House members, and California’s legislative counsel has released an opinion casting doubt on the constitutionality of the presidential disclosure bill. Other legal experts have disagreed with that interpretation, saying the bill could pass constitutional muster.

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In his veto message, Brown said he hesitated “to start down a road that well might lead to an ever escalating set of differing state requirements for presidential candidates.”

Trump drew criticism from Democrats and open-government advocates when he became the first president in years to take office without releasing his tax returns. But Brown, a fourth-term Democrat, has resisted similar disclosures. Breaking with a tradition of gubernatorial candidates in California, he did not release his tax returns during his 2010 or 2014 campaigns.

The bill Brown vetoed would have required, as a condition for appearing on the primary ballot, that presidential candidates file copies of their five most recent tax returns with state officials. The state, in turn, would have made them public.