A federal judge on Monday dodged a decision for now over whether congressional Democrats can request and receive President Donald Trump’s New York state tax returns by asking the parties to figure out a solution themselves.
Judge Carl Nichols expressed concern in a hearing Monday that Trump’s taxes could be requested and provided before the courts have time to consider constitutional and other legal issues with the request.
Nichols, a Trump nominee confirmed by the Senate in May, ordered attorneys for the President, the House Ways and Means Committee and State of New York to meet and propose a solution by 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
During the hearing, Nichols was particularly critical of the committee’s insistence that it had an absolute right to make the requests to the state.
“Defendants are unwilling to do anything other than to squeeze this into a very narrow aperture,” he said.
But rather than issue an order himself, Nichols said the parties should use their “creativity” to reach an agreement that would delay the returns from being requested or provided.
