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Donald J. Trump v. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., in His Official Capacity as District Attorney of the County of New York, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, No. 19-3204 · judgment November 4, 2019

Decided · July 9, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 38% cert probability (95% interval 26%–51%)

Before the decision, about 9.1× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a petition filed soon after the judgment below, a Second Circuit decision below, and a circuit split argued in the petition.

Question presented

The District Attorney for the County of New York is conducting a criminal investigation that, by his own admission, targets the President of the United States for possible indictment and prosecution during his term in office. As part of that investigation, he served a grand-jury subpoena on a custodian of the President's personal records, demanding production of nearly ten years' worth of the President's financial papers and his tax returns. That subpoena is the combination-almost a wordfor-word copy-of two subpoenas issued by committees of Congress for these same papers. The Second Circuit rejected the President's claim of immunity and ordered compliance with the subpoena. The question presented is: Whether this subpoena violates Article II and the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution. THIS CASE WILL BE SET FOR ARGUMENT IN THE MARCH 2020 ARGUMENT SESSION. PRESS RELEASE OF MARCH 16, 2020 IN KEEPING WITH PUBLIC HEALTH PRECAUTIONS RECOMMENDED IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19, THE SUPREME COURT IS POSTPONING THE ORAL ARGUMENTS CURRENTLY SCHEDULED FOR THE MARCH SESSION. PRESS RELEASE OF APRIL 13, 2020 RESCHEDULED FOR ORAL ARGUMENTS BY TELEPHONE CONFERENCE. THE JUSTICES AND COUNSEL WILL ALL PARTICIPATE REMOTELY.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Jay Alan Sekulow
American Center for Law and Justice

For respondent
Jerry D. Bernstein
Blank Rome LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
2 cert-stage · 13 merits
(3 supporting pet./neither, 10 respondent)

Argument & decision

Argued May 12, 2020 — Jay A. Sekulow · Carey R. Dunne. Audio and transcript

Decided July 9, 2020. Opinion by Roberts, C.J..

Proceedings

  1. Jul 17 2020
    JUDGMENT ISSUED (forthwith).
  2. Jul 17 2020
    Application (20A17) granted by The Chief Justice.
  3. Jul 15 2020
    Application (20A17) of Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., in his official capacity as district attorney of the County of New York, for an order to issue the judgment forthwith, submitted to The Chief Justice.
    Main DocumentProof of Service
  4. Jul 09 2020
    Judgment is AFFIRMED and case REMANDED. Roberts, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan, JJ., joined. Kavanaugh, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which Gorsuch, J., joined. Thomas, J., and Alito, J., filed dissenting opinions.
  5. May 12 2020
    Argued. For petitioner: Jay A. Sekulow, Washington, D. C.; and Noel J. Francisco, Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. (for United States, as amicus curiae.) For respondents: Carey R. Dunne, General Counsel, New York County District Attorney's Office, New York, N. Y.
  6. Apr 15 2020
    RESCHEDULED FOR ARGUMENT on Tuesday, May 12, 2020.
  7. Apr 13 2020
    Argument to be rescheduled for May 2020.
  8. Mar 27 2020
    Reply of petitioner Donald J. Trump filed. (Distributed)
  9. Mar 23 2020
    Motion of the Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument GRANTED.
  10. Mar 16 2020
    ORAL ARGUMENT POSTPONED.
  11. Mar 04 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Washington State Tax Practitioners filed. (Distributed)
  12. Mar 04 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Former Department of Justice Officials filed. (Distributed)
  13. Mar 04 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Electronic Privacy Information Center, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  14. Mar 04 2020
    Brief amici curiae of The American Civil Liberties Union, and The New York Civil Liberties Union filed. (Distributed)
  15. Mar 04 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Commonwealth of Virginia, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  16. Mar 04 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Claire Finkelstein and the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law at the University of Pennsylvania filed. (Distributed)
  17. Mar 04 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of David Boyle filed. (Distributed)
  18. Mar 04 2020
    Motion of the Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument filed.
  19. Mar 04 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Eugene H. Goldberg filed. (Distributed)
  20. Mar 03 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Boston University Law Professors Sean J. Kealy and James J. Wheaton filed. (Distributed)
  21. Mar 02 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Former Republican Members of Congress, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  22. Feb 26 2020
    Brief of respondent Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., in his Official Capacity as District Attorney of the County of New York filed. (Distributed)
  23. Feb 26 2020
    Sealed document sent by the U.S.D.C Southern District of New York. (1-Envelope)
  24. Feb 24 2020
    Motion to dispense with printing the joint appendix filed by petitioner GRANTED.
  25. Feb 20 2020
    Sealed documents sent from the U.S.C.A. 2nd Circuit are electronically filed.
  26. Feb 19 2020
    CIRCULATED
  27. Feb 19 2020
    Record requested from the U.S.C.A. 2nd Circuit.
  28. Feb 19 2020
    The record received from the U.S.C.A. 2nd Circuit has been electronically filed.
  29. Feb 05 2020
    Letter of respondent Mazars USA LLP notifying the Clerk that it does not intend to participate in this case filed. (Also in 19-715 & 19-760). VIDED
  30. Feb 03 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of United States filed.
  31. Feb 03 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund filed. (Also in 19-715 & 19-760) VIDED.
  32. Feb 03 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Christian Family Coalition (CFC) Florida, Inc. filed. (Also in 19-715 & 19-760) VIDED.
  33. Jan 31 2020
    SET FOR ARGUMENT on Tuesday, March 31, 2020.
  34. Jan 27 2020
    Brief of petitioner Donald J. Trump filed.
  35. Jan 21 2020
    Motion to dispense with printing the joint appendix filed by petitioner Donald Trump.
  36. Jan 15 2020
    Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, Mazars USA LLP.
  37. Jan 15 2020
    Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., in his official capacity as District Attorney of the County of New York.
  38. Jan 08 2020
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Donald Trump
  39. Dec 13 2019
    Petition GRANTED. The case will set for argument in the March 2020 argument session.
  40. Nov 26 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/13/2019.
  41. Nov 25 2019
    Reply of petitioner Donald Trump filed.
  42. Nov 25 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of Christian Family Coalition (CFC) Florida, Inc. filed.
  43. Nov 22 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of United States filed.
  44. Nov 21 2019
    Brief of respondents Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., in his official capacity as district attorney of the County of New York,et al. in opposition filed.
  45. Nov 21 2019
    Waiver of right of respondent Mazars USA LLP to respond filed.
  46. Nov 14 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 18, 2019)