House Democrats Fail to Get Trump Tax-Case Showdown Postponed

(Bloomberg) -- House Democrats failed to get a hearing postponed in their lawsuit to obtain President Donald Trump's tax returns, after an appeals court ruling in a separate case appeared to bolster executive power to resist congressional oversight.

Trump last week defeated Democrats' efforts to force testimony by former White House Counsel Don McGahn, when the federal appeals court in Washington said it couldn't resolve a dispute between the legislative and executive branches. The administration is now using that decision to try to dismiss other suits by lawmakers.

The McGahn ruling could be relevant in the case before U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden over whether the Treasury Department must release six years of the president's personal and business tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee. The Washington judge, a Trump appointee, on Wednesday refused a request from House Democrats to delay a hearing set for Thursday.

“McGahn was wrongly decided,” lawyers for House Democrats said in a court filing. “Crucial differences exist between the threshold issues presented in McGahn and those in this case.”

Lawyers for the Trump administration opposed any delay, saying additional briefs are unnecessary. In their response, the president's team urged McFadden to dismiss the case, saying the McGahn ruling “make even clearer that the House lacks standing to bring this suit.”

The case is Committee on Ways and Means v. U.S. Department of the Treasury, 19-cv-1974, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).

To contact the reporter on this story: Laura Davison in Washington at ldavison4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Steve Stroth, Peter Blumberg

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