Carl Nichols Carl Nichols testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing to be U.S. district judge for the District of Columbia in August 2018. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington, the most recent trial judge confirmed to the bench, was assigned Friday to preside over President Donald Trump's bid to prevent a U.S. House committee from obtaining his New York state tax returns.

The assignment came less than 24 hours after U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden spurned the president's attempt to put the case in his court. McFadden is presiding over a case the House filed against the Treasury Department and IRS, and Trump's lawyers had designated the new lawsuit as “related” to the pending one.

Nichols, like McFadden, was appointed by Trump to the federal trial court. A former Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr regulatory partner, Nichols was confirmed in May. The former clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas, during the 1997-1998 term, was earlier a leading U.S. Justice Department appellate lawyer before joining WilmerHale.

This week, Trump's lawyers at Consovoy McCarthy had urged McFadden to quickly block the House Ways and Means Committee from obtaining copies of the president's New York state tax returns under a new law that permits state authorities to share the tax filings of top government officials on a request from a U.S. congressional committee.

At a hearing Thursday, McFadden said the two tax-returns suits were not “related” and Trump's new case would be reassigned randomly to another judge. McFadden, quoting language from an unrelated 2000 case, said he was mindful of trying “to avoid the appearance of judge-shopping or favoritism in assignments and to assure that cases were assigned on an impartial and neutral basis.”

New York state lawmakers said at the time the law was passed, just a few weeks ago, that the move would allow greater cooperation between state and federal officials. Trump, despite vowing for months on the campaign trial that he would release his tax returns, has refused to do so. Trump was the first presidential candidate in modern times not to release tax returns.

Trump's lawyer William Consovoy argued that the House Ways and Means Committee, acting under the New York state law, called the Trust Act, could request Trump's tax returns “at any time, with no notice to the president. And New York could respond to the request nearly instantaneously, mooting the president's ability to object before his tax records are disclosed.”

Consovoy claimed Congress has no legitimate legislative interest in the president's tax records. He also challenged the constitutionality of the Trust Act, arguing it was enacted this month to “discriminate and retaliate against President Trump for his speech and politics,” in violation of the First Amendment.

House lawyers contend that the committee's consideration of seeking Trump's state tax returns is “immune from challenge through the court system.” The House Democrats have not yet formally requested the state tax returns from New York.

“Mr. Trump's complaint and his emergency application brazenly request that this Court violate the separation of powers and enjoin the Ways and Means Committee from even embarking on legislative activity squarely within its Article I powers,” Douglas Letter, the House general counsel, said in a court filing.

Trump's lawsuit initially landed in McFadden's court because he is presiding over a separate case in which the House has sued the Treasury Department and IRS for copies of the president's federal tax returns. In that case, the IRS has refused to comply with a House Ways and Means subpoena seeking federal returns between 2013 and 2018. Federal law requires the IRS to furnish—on request by the Ways and Means Committee—the tax returns of any private citizen.

The lawsuits related to Trump's tax returns are among several in Washington and New York courts that seek financial records tied to the president. Trump's attorneys lost two bids recently to block House committee subpoenas seeking records from Mazars USA, the president's longtime accounting firm, and from his primary lender, Deutsche Bank.

 

Read more:

How WilmerHale's Carl Nichols Got Trump's Nod for DC Federal Trial Bench

Who Is Trevor McFadden? Meet the Judge Assigned the Trump Tax Returns Case

Justice Dept., Silent on Trump's Subpoena Fights, Is Invited to Express Views

Trump's Lawyer Faced Skeptical DC Circuit Panel in Subpoena Fight

Trump Sues to Strike Down NY Law Over Tax Returns

READ: US House Asks Judge to Force Disclosure of Trump's Taxes