President Donald Trump is appealing to the Supreme Court in a last-ditch bid to block a subpoena from House Democrats for his financial records — his second request in the last month for the justices to block investigators seeking documents related to his personal business dealings.

In a lengthy filing Thursday, Trump’s lead personal attorneys Jay Sekulow and William Consovoy argued that the Supreme Court should take up the case because it was the first time a president’s personal records have been subpoenaed by Congress.


“At its core, this controversy is about whether — and to what degree — Congress can exercise dominion and control over the Office of the President,” Sekulow and Consovoy wrote, adding: “These are profoundly serious constitutional questions that the court should decide.”

If the Supreme Court decides to take up the appeal, it would be a monumental and precedent-setting separation of powers case likely to have implications for decades to come. The justices are already considering a separate petition from Trump filed last month aimed at blocking a grand jury in Manhattan from viewing his tax returns as part of an ongoing criminal probe.

Thursday’s newest petition comes after the high court temporarily stayed lower court rulings that upheld the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s subpoena, while the justices decide whether to take up the case during the court’s next session. If the justices agree to hear the dispute, arguments would likely come in the spring, with a decision by June.

The House panel subpoenaed accounting firm Mazars USA in April in a bid to obtain several years of Trump’s financial records as part of the panel’s investigation into allegations that Trump improperly inflated and deflated the values of his personal assets.


Sekulow and Consovoy argued that the committee “lacks express statutory authorization to subpoena the president,” adding: “An express statement should be required given the separation-of-powers issues that are raised by unleashing every committee to subpoena every president for his personal records.”

The D.C. District Court and the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals both sided with the House, determining that the subpoena is valid and ordering Mazars to turn over the documents. The courts sharply rejected Trump’s legal arguments and upheld the House’s broad authority to issue subpoenas and investigate alleged presidential misconduct.

In both cases, Trump’s legal team argued that the subpoena does not have a “legitimate legislative purpose,” while Democrats have asserted that Congress has an obligation to conduct oversight and investigate a president’s personal affairs, while also using the financial documents to evaluate whether federal laws must be updated.

Lower courts have also recently upheld House Democrats’ subpoena to Deutsche Bank for the president’s financial records and other tax documents. Trump’s lawyers are likely to appeal those rulings to the Supreme Court, too.


The Supreme Court is already scheduled to meet Dec. 13 in a closed-door conference to consider the separate plea from Trump aimed at overturning the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ order ordering the president to hand over his tax returns to a grand jury in New York overseen by District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.

Democrats are unlikely to use the documents as part of their fast-moving impeachment inquiry, which is slated to wrap up in the House before the end of the year.

