Supreme Court To Hear Arguments By Telephone, Including On Trump's Financial Records

The U.S. Supreme Court says it will hear three cases involving subpoenas for President Trump's financial records, as part of a series of oral arguments the court said Monday it would hear by telephone conference in the first half of May.

"In keeping with public health guidance in response to COVID-19, the Justices and counsel will all participate remotely," the court said in a statement. "The Court anticipates providing a live audio feed of these arguments to news media. Details will be shared as they become available."

The cases — Trump v. Vance, Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP, and Trump v. Deutsche Bank AG — all involve Trump's records: two involve congressional subpoenas and another one involves a New York grand jury subpoena for his financial records relating to alleged hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and another woman during the 2016 campaign.

Lower courts had upheld the New York grand jury subpoena, which was directed not at Trump but at his longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA LLP. But the president's lawyers had argued that the firm couldn't turn over the documents.

In the second case, the lower courts ruled that the House Oversight and Financial Services committees were within their rights when they subpoenaed financial records from Mazars. The committees' justification is that they need these records to examine potential ethics and banking violations, as well as to determine whether current law needs to be amended with regard to whether presidents should be required to make public their taxes.

Trump has blocked Mazars from complying with any of the subpoenas, citing his immunity as president. [Copyright 2020 NPR]