How Trumpist is the Supreme Court?
By 
We may find out, although probably not anytime soon:
A federal appeals panel said on Monday that President Trump’s accounting firm must turn over eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns to Manhattan prosecutors, a setback for the president’s attempt to keep his financial records private.
The three-judge appeals panel did not take a position on the president’s biggest argument — that he was immune from all criminal investigations. A lower court had called that argument “repugnant to the nation’s governmental structure and constitutional values.”
Instead, the appeals court said the president’s accounting firm, not Mr. Trump himself, was subpoenaed for the documents, so it did not matter whether presidents have immunity.
“We emphasize again the narrowness of the issue before us,” the decision read. “This appeal does not require us to consider whether the president is immune from indictment and prosecution while in office, nor to consider whether the president may lawfully be ordered to produce documents for use in a state criminal proceeding.”
But the tax returns are not likely to be handed over soon. Mr. Trump has fought vigorously to shield his financial records, and the case appears headed to the United States Supreme Court.
Trump’s arguments don’t even rise to the level of being “frivolous,” and in a rational world an appeal to the Supreme Court would be quickly dismissed. But we don’t live in a rational world, and alas the 2CA panel provides us with no useful information about how the Supreme Court would rule:
The appeals court typically considers cases via three-judge panels. In addition to Judge Chin, the panel that heard the president’s appeal included Judge Robert A. Katzmann, the court’s chief judge; and Judge Christopher F. Droney.
Judge Katzmann was appointed to the appeals court by President Bill Clinton. Judges Chin and Droney were placed on the court by President Barack Obama.
No neoconfederate judge heard the case, so we don’t have any indication of that the Supreme Court will do. But at the very least we can expect them not to resolve the issue before November 2020.