The California Supreme Court ruled against a new state law that required presidential candidates to provide their personal tax returns in order to be eligible for election.
A federal judge also blocked the law from being enforced in September. U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. cited the already existing Ethics in Government Act and rejected the new law as superfluous, saying enforcement would cause “irreparable harm without temporary relief” to people seeking the office of president. Several lawsuits were filed in response to the law being enacted in July, including by President Trump.
The law rejected by the Supreme Court, SB 27, would have required any person running for president to disclose five years of income tax returns to secure a spot on the state primary ballot. Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom cited a departure from politics as usual as the reason he chose to sign the controversial measure into law. “These are extraordinary times, and states have a legal and moral duty to do everything in their power to ensure leaders seeking the highest offices meet minimal standards and to restore public confidence,” he said in July.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
