A federal judge late Tuesday rejected an attempt by former President Donald Trump to shield his tax returns from Congress. Trump had charged that the House Ways and Means Committee, led by Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), did not have a legitimate legislative purpose for pursuing his returns. Neal had said the purpose was to make sure the IRS-run Presidential Audit Program has no flaws. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump nominee, said Trump may be “right on the facts” but “he is wrong on the law.” Supreme Court precedent, he added in a 45-page ruling (pdf), “requires great deference to facially valid congressional inquiries.” The saga stretches back to before Trump won the 2016 election when major Democrats called on him to release his tax returns. Trump declined. Neal, the ranking member on the committee, tried pushing the panel to request the tax returns and separately introduced a resolution that …