The Democrat effort to obtain six years of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns has a legitimate legislative purpose that is not clearly unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled on Aug. 9.
Trump and his lawyers have said that the request, from Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), exceeds the investigative powers of Congress. The appeals court panel found that the request “articulates a clear legislative purpose on a matter which legislation could be had,” the Presidential Audit Program, as well as possible legislation that would help IRS workers conducting the presidential audits.
“The Chairman has identified a legitimate legislative purpose that it requires information to accomplish. At this stage, it is not our place to delve deeper than this. The mere fact that individual members of Congress may have political motivations as well as legislative ones is of no moment,” the panel said in a 29-page ruling….