A challenge seemed all but inevitable given Trump’s legal moves to stymie House Democrats and New York officials who are also seeking the president’s tax returns. | AP Photo Trump lawyer to California: See you in court

President Donald Trump’s lawyers immediately signaled today they will challenge a California law requiring Trump to disclose his tax returns if he wants to appear on primary ballots in the state.

“The State of California’s attempt to circumvent the Constitution will be answered in court,” Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said in an emailed statement shortly after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law.


A challenge seemed all but inevitable given Trump’s legal moves to stymie House Democrats and New York officials who are also seeking the president’s tax returns. Trump campaign official Tim Murtaugh declined to comment on a potential lawsuit but said the California law is unconstitutional.

“The Constitution is clear on the qualifications for someone to serve as president and states cannot add additional requirements on their own,” Murtaugh said in a statement. “The bill also violates the 1st Amendment right of association since California can't tell political parties which candidates their members can or cannot vote for in a primary election.”

Newsom clearly anticipated the backlash, accompanying his signing message with quotes from legal scholars attesting the constitutionality of the law.

“It does not keep any candidate from being on the ballot so long as he or she complies with a simple requirement that is meant to provide California voters crucial information,” constitutional expert and UC Berkeley School of Law dean Erwin Chemerinsky was quoted as saying. “This is the state acting to make sure that its voters have information that might be very important to them when they cast their ballots as to who they want to be President of the United States.”

Should the law be contested in court, it would fall to California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to defend it — continuing his role as one of the Trump administration’s preeminent legal combatants. Becerra has sued the Trump administration dozens of times and defended California’s so-called “sanctuary” laws from a U.S. Department of Justice challenge.