A federal judge on Oct. 7 ordered President Donald Trump to turn over eight years of tax returns, responding to an appeal from Trumps lawyers after Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance issued a subpoena for the returns last month.
Trump sued Vance, saying the subpoena was unconstitutional because Trump is president.
District Court Judge Victor Marrero, a Bill Clinton appointee, called the argument set forth by Trumps representatives “an extraordinary claim.”
“He contends that, in his view of the presidents duties and functions and the allocation of government powers between the executive and the judicial branches under the United States Constitution, the person who serves as president, while in office, enjoys absolute immunity from criminal process of any kind,” Marrero wrote in the ruling.
“This court cannot endorse such a categorical and limitless assertion of presidential immunity from judicial process as being countenanced by the nations constitutional plan, especially in the light of the fundamental concerns over excessive arrogation of power that animated the Constitutions delicate structure and its calibrated balance of authority among the three branches of the national government, as well as between the federal and state authorities,” he added.
Marrero said that subjecting the president to some aspects of criminal proceedings could interfere or even incapacitate his ability to work but “contrary to the presidents immunity claims as asserted here that consequence would not necessarily follow every stage of every criminal proceeding.”
He later wrote that the president of the United States is not the king of England.
“Shunning the concept of the inviolability of the person of the king of England and the bounds of the monarchs protective screen covering the Crowns actions from legal scrutiny, the Founders disclaimed any notion that the ConstituRead More – Source
