The president of the Supreme Court of the United States,

John Roberts

, temporarily blocked the delivery of the

tax returns

of former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) to a committee of the House of Representatives, controlled by the Democrats and that has been trying since 2019 to obtain those documents.

The court order will give the Supreme Court time to evaluate in depth the appeal that Trump filed yesterday, Monday, to

keep

his tax returns secret.

Once the Supreme Court examines the case, it will issue a final decision.

Had Roberts not intervened, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the United States Treasury, would have been able to deliver Trump's tax returns to the House Ways and Means committee as early as Thursday. Representatives.

The battle over those documents dates back to 2019,

when the Ways and Means committee issued a subpoena for access to that information as part of its investigation into

potential tax violations

by Trump.

The committee based its request on a 1924 law that allows the leaders of certain congressional committees, including the Ways and Means Committee, to ask the Secretary of the Treasury and the US Treasury to release the tax returns of any taxpayer.

At the time, then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a Trump appointee,

refused to provide the documents to the committee, and Democrats took the battle to court.

court fight

All judicial instances lower than the Supreme Court have ruled against Trump and have reaffirmed the committee's authority to access the former president's taxes.

As a result, Trump's lawyers have been forced to go to the conservative-majority Supreme Court, which they are trying to convince that the Ways and Means committee is overstepping its authority.

In their appeal, filed yesterday, Monday,

the lawyers argued that the case presents "important dilemmas about the separation of powers" in the US

and that it could affect future presidents.

Trump was the first US president since

Gerald Ford

(1974-1977) who did not publish his tax return every year, a tradition that his predecessors considered part of their duty of transparency and accountability to the people.

Trump's taxes have been the subject of controversy for years

and are currently part of a legal process in New York.

Specifically, last September, New York Attorney General Letitia James formally accused the company, the Trump company, the former president and three of his adult children, of fraudulently obtaining loans, insurance benefits and paying more taxes. lower than they should be.

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