Former U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a rally in Warren, Michigan, U.S., October 1, 2022.
Dieu-nalio Chery | Reutersm
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday lost his latest effort in court to block years of his income tax returns be given to the House Ways and Means Committee.
The federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., denied Trump’s request to have the full lineup of judges on that court rehear his appeal of a lower court order requiring the Treasury Department to turn over those tax returns.
A three-judge panel on the appeals court in August unanimously denied Trump’s appeal of the lower court decision.
Thursday’s decision by the full appeals court, which had no noted dissents, sets the stage for Trump to make an expected request to the Supreme Court to hear his appeal. However, the court is not obligated to grant that request.
The Ways and Means Committee first asked the Treasury Department in 2019 for Trump’s income tax returns and those of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust and seven limited liability companies, one of which does business as Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Trump was president at the time.
Trump as both a Republican candidate for president and as president broke decades of tradition by refusing to publicly release his tax returns.
A federal judge last December dismissed the former president’s challenge to the House committee obtaining his tax records from the Treasury Department as part of an inquiry into how the IRS audits presidential income tax returns.
In its ruling in August rejecting the challenge to that order, the three-judge D.C. circuit appeals court panel noted that while tax returns are generally confidential under federal law, when the Ways and Means Committee chair requests such returns in writing from the Treasury Department that guidance doesn’t apply.