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Former President Donald Trump has petitioned the United States Supreme Court to block the IRS from turning over his tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee.
The request comes after the D.C. Circuit Court declined to reconsider a ruling by a three-judge panel that determined the IRS must turn over six years of Trump's tax returns.
"No Congress has ever wielded its legislative powers to demand a President's tax returns," Trump's lawyers wrote in a legal filing asking for an administrative hold.
Trump's lawyers also pushed back on the reasoning Congress has used to justify being granted access to the records.
"The committee's purpose in requesting President Trump's tax returns has nothing to do with funding or staffing issues at the IRS and everything to do with releasing the president's tax information to the public," they argued.
The battle over Trump's tax returns began in 2019 when the committee asked the Treasury Department to release the documents. Officials in the department refused to comply, prompting a lawsuit from the committee.
After Joe Biden was sworn into office in 2021, the Treasury Department reversed course and said it would comply with the request. That resulted in a lawsuit filed by Trump to block the IRS from handing over the financial documents.