Lawsuits say the new law violates the US constitution and is ‘a naked political attack’ against Donald Trump

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The Trump campaign and the Republican party sued California over a new law requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns to run in the state’s primary.

The lawsuits argue the law violates the US constitution by creating an extra requirement to run for president and deprives citizens of the right to vote for their chosen candidates. The constitution puts just three requirements on presidential candidates: that they are natural born citizens, 35 or older and a US resident for at least 14 years.

California’s law is “a naked political attack against the sitting president of the United States”, the state and national Republican parties argued in one of two lawsuits filed in US district court in Sacramento.

The Trump campaign, meanwhile, argued in its suit that Democrats are “on a crusade to obtain the president’s federal tax returns in the hopes of finding something they can use to harm him politically.”

The law, signed last week by the Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom, is aimed at prying loose Donald Trump’s tax returns.

California is the first state to pass such a law, though many others under Democratic control have tried since Trump left office.

California’s law requires candidates for president and governor to release five years of tax returns to appear on the state’s primary ballot. It does not include a similar requirement for the general election.

California holds its 2020 presidential primary on 3 March. Without a serious Republican competitor, Trump would likely be able to forego the state’s primary and still win the nomination.

But the parties’ lawsuit argues it will “directly impede” Trump’s ability to secure the nomination. California provides 14% of the delegates needed to win the party’s nomination, the suit says.

Trump counsel Jay Sekulow called the California law “flagrantly illegal”, and said voters already spoke in 2016 on whether Trump should release his tax returns.

“The effort to deny California voters the opportunity to cast a ballot for president Trump in 2020 will clearly fail,” said Sekulow.

The lawsuits are the latest legal battle between the Trump administration and California, which has sued the federal government more than 50 times since Trump took office.

Tax returns reveal sources of income, charitable giving, business dealings and other information that Democrats in the state legislature say is essential for voters. Every president has released his or her tax returns since the early 1970s.

But Trump has refused to release the documents, saying they are under audit.

“There’s an easy fix Mr President – release your returns as you promised during the campaign and follow the precedent of every president since 1973,” Newsom tweeted on Tuesday.

The US supreme court has previously halted state efforts to add ballot access rules for congressional candidates. The former California governor Jerry Brown, also a Democrat, vetoed a similar law two years ago, arguing it would create a slippery slope of trying to force candidates to release additional information to run for president.

At least two other lawsuits have already been filed.