Following the decision, Neal said in a statement that “this ruling is no surprise, the law is clearly on the Committee’s side. I am pleased that we’re now one step closer to being able to conduct more thorough oversight of the IRS’s mandatory presidential audit program.”
In Tuesday’s opinion, McFadden said that the former President was “wrong on the law,” as a “long line of Supreme Court cases requires great deference to facially valid congressional inquiries.”
“Even the special solicitude accorded former Presidents does not alter the outcome,” McFadden wrote.
Nonetheless, the opinion also included a warning to Neal about making the returns public, even as the judge said that Neal had the authority to do so.
