President Trump filed a federal lawsuit in Washington, D.C., on July 23, to stop New York state from giving copies of the President’s recent state tax returns to a Congressional Committee. Trump is a resident of New York state so his state income tax return is a New York return.

The case, Trump v Committee on Ways & Means and Letitia James (Attorney General of New York) was assigned to Judge Trevor N. McFadden, because attorneys for the President said McFadden already is handling the lawsuit Committee on Ways & Means v U.S. Department of the Treasury. Attorneys for the president said Judge McFadden should get the New York case because the two cases are related. Committee on Ways & Means v U.S. Department of the Treasury is the case in which congress is demanding that the U.S. Treasury reveal the President’s federal return.

On July 25, Judge McFadden, who is a Trump appointee, said the two cases are not related, so the new lawsuit against New York state was then randomly reassigned. It went to Judge Carl J. Nichols, another Trump appointee.

On July 29, Judge Nichols ordered the two sides in the New York case to try to come to an agreement about how to proceed. The chair of the Ways & Means Committee of the U.S. House still hasn’t said whether he intends to ask New York state for the state income tax return. If Congressman Richard E. Neal (chair of the Ways & Means Committee) suddenly requests the state income tax return, and New York quickly submits it to him, the worry is that the President will not have had a chance to contest that action in court. So, the two sides need to settle whether or not Neal wants the state return, and then they need to settle on a quick procedure to resolve the lawsuit. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.