On March 10, Che Ahn, a Republican candidate for Governor of California, filed a lawsuit in state court alleging that the law requiring gubernatorial candidates to submit copies of their tax returns for the last five years is unconstitutional. He argues that the California Constitution does not have such a requirement, and that the legislature is not free to add to the qualifications listed in the State Constitution.
The law requiring both presidential and gubernatorial candidates to file their tax returns was passed in 2019. The motivation for the law was to block President Donald Trump from the 2020 California presidential primary ballot, because he famously had refused to voluntarily disclose his tax returns. Governor was added to the bill as an afterthought. The State Supreme Court invalidated the law as to presidential candidates in Patterson v Padilla,, 8 Cal.5th 220. The reason was that the California Constitution said that the Secretary of State should put all candidates on the presidential primary ballot automatically if they were discussed in the news media. Also a U.S. District Court independently enjoined the requirement on the grounds that states cannot add to the constitutional qualifications. The state appeaed the federal decision to the Ninth Circuit, but the Ninth Circuit said the matter was moot because of the State Supreme Court decision.
The case has a hearing Monday, March 23, in Sacramento Superior Court. Ahn v Weber, 26WM000058. Ahn is a Los Angeles pastor of Korean descent.