Supreme Court punts, denies Trump immunity but blocks House Dems from tax docs

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that President Trump is not immune from a subpoena over his financial and tax records to Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. — and declined in a separate case to issue a definitive ruling on whether congressional committees can have access to Trump’s financial records, throwing both issues back to lower courts.

The rulings are on-brand for the court under the leadership of Chief Justice John Roberts, avoiding a fraught political issue in the middle of an election year, and ruling narrowly on major disputes, especially those involving conflicts between the other branches.

“President is neither absolutely immune from state criminal subpoenas seeking his private papers nor entitled to a heightened standard of need,” Roberts wrote in the court’s majority opinion in the New York case. The court limited its ruling and the arguments before it to whether Trump has “absolute immunity” and state prosecutors are required to show a “heightened need” in order to obtain documents as part of investigations into a president.

Excerpt from Fox News.