Trump’s Attempt To Hide Financial Records Goes To Court Run By Merrick Garland

Merrick Garland Image by Getty Images
President Trump’s legal efforts to keep his financial records sealed will go to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals — where the chief judge is Merrick Garland, HuffPost explained Monday.
A federal judge ruled on Monday in favor of the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s subpoena of president’s records from an accounting firm, Politico reported. Trump attorney Jay Sekulow promised they would appeal – leaving the case in a court system run by Garland.
Garland was President Obama’s nominee for Supreme Court justice in 2016, after Justice Antonin Scalia’s sudden death, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell never gave him a vote, citing the upcoming presidential election. Trump won and nominated Neil Gorsuch, who now sits on the bench.
It’s possible Garland won’t hear the appeal, as cases are heard by three randomly assigned judges, according to HuffPost. In some cases, though, the full court could still be called on.
The news was greeted with humor on Twitter:
When Republicans thought they had seen the last of Merrick Garland but he heads up the court that’s hearing Trump’s tax appeal. pic.twitter.com/vcHwKgmLYK
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) May 21, 2019
I wish I could say revenge is a dish best served cold, but Merrick Garland is a consummate legal professional who I’m sure will do everything possible to avoid the appearance of any bias.
Which, you know, would have been a great reason to have him on the Supreme Court. https://t.co/o9M0mLkh0K
— Zev Karlin-Neumann (@zkarlinn) May 21, 2019
Alyssa Fisher is a writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker’s rabbi has notes on Cory Booker’s 25-hour speech
-
Fast Forward Naftali Bennett is back: Former Israeli prime minister will make another run at Netanyahu
-
Fast Forward Citing post-Holocaust doctrine, Germany seeks to deport 4 pro-Palestinian protesters, including one American
-
Fast Forward Trump administration freezes research funding to Princeton amid antisemitism investigations
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.