In a strange, but an excellent example of law triumphing over partisan hatred and the keen desire to frame President Trump for wrongdoing, the Supreme Court has halted a subpoena issued by congressional democrats forcing Deutsche Bank to hand over President Trump’s financial records. And this time, Ruth Bader Ginsburg issued the temporary block.
The court’s order came just hours after the president’s legal team asked for a temporary stay of an appellate court decision ordering Deutsche Bank to comply with subpoenas from the House Financial Services and Intelligence Committees for a broad range of documents concerning Trump’s finances and his businesses.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who oversees the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, issued an administrative stay of that court’s decision that will be in effect until Dec. 13 while the court deliberates on whether to grant a longer stay and to give Trump’s lawyers time to prepare a formal appeal.
The committees are investigating Trump’s relationship with Deutsche Bank, which had given him $2 billion in loans and is reportedly being investigated for its role in money-laundering scheme involving Russia. [Supposedly. And given the highly partisan attacks which the president faces daily, such tactics seems more of the same to many people.]
Earlier this week, a three-judge panel on the Second Circuit had ruled that there was a “clear and substantial” public interest in granting the House subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and the credit card company Capital One.
“It is the interest of two congressional committees, functioning under the authority of a resolution of the House of Representatives authorizing the subpoenas at issue, to obtain information on enforcement of anti-money-laundering/counter-financing of terrorism laws, terrorist financing, the movement of illicit funds through the global financial system including the real estate market, the scope of the Russian government’s operations to influence the U.S. political process, and whether the Lead Plaintiff was vulnerable to foreign exploitation,” they wrote.
The fight over the Deutsche Bank and Capital One subpoenas is the third case involving Trump’s financial records to reach the Supreme Court. The justices granted a stay of another subpoena from the House Oversight Committee for records from Trump’s accounting firm Mazars USA. The court has not said whether it will take the case.
The justices are also considering whether to hear Trump’s appeal over a subpoena from the Manhattan district attorney for his tax returns from Mazars.