WASHINGTON (CN) – The Supreme Court agreed Monday to temporarily block a ruling that would have required President Donald Trump's longtime accounting firm to turn over his personal financial records to Congress.
The move comes hours after the House Oversight Committee told the Supreme Court it would agree to a short administrative stay in the case while the court received briefing on whether it should impose a longer stay.
Trump has asked the Supreme Court to block a D.C. Circuit decision upholding the subpoena, which the House Oversight Committee sent to the president's longtime accounting firm Mazars USA seeking his personal financial records, until the justices decide whether to hear the case.
The stay order gives the committee until Thursday at 3 p.m. to file its opposition to Trump's request. The justices are scheduled to hold a conference where they discuss pending cases on Friday.
In a two-page letter filed with the Supreme Court earlier in the day, the House Oversight Committee said it would not object to an administrative stay through Nov. 30 that would allow for further briefing in the case. The committee planned to file its brief opposing Trump’s request for a longer stay by Friday.
“Out of courtesy to this court, the committee does not, however, oppose a short ten-day administrative stay, beginning on November 20, 2019, to enable the court to receive an opposition by the committee and then rule on the Trump applicants’ request for a stay pending certiorari,” the committee’s letter to the court states.
Monday's rush of action is the first on a pair of Trump appeals that made their way to the Supreme Court last week.
In addition to the fight with the House Oversight Committee, Trump last week also asked the Supreme Court to hear a challenge to a subpoena the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office served on Mazars seeking the same set of documents.
Trump has argued that as president he is immune from having to turn over his personal financial records in a criminal matter, and that the House’s subpoena is invalid because it does not serve a legislative purpose.
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