■ The Supreme Court declined to halt the turning over of former President Donald Trump’s tax records.

Allows release of former president’s tax returns in N.Y. case

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday declined to step in to halt the turnover of former President Donald Trump’s tax records to a New York state prosecutor.

Trump’s tax records are not supposed to become public as part of prosecutors’ criminal investigation, but the high court’s action is a blow to Trump because he has long fought on so many fronts to keep his tax records shielded from view.

In a statement, Trump blasted prosecutors and said the “Supreme Court never should have let this ‘fishing expedition’ happen, but they did.”

The Republican said the investigation is politically motivated by Democrats in “a totally Democrat location, New York City and State.” And he said he would “fight on” and that “We will win!”

The Supreme Court waited months to act in the case. The last of the written briefs in the case was filed Oct. 19.

The court offered no explanation for the delay, and the legal issue before the justices did not involve whether Trump was due any special deference because he was president.

The court’s action Monday wasn’t the only defeat for Trump, the court also declined to get involved in a handful of cases related to the 2020 election.

The cases the justices rejected involved election challenges filed by Trump and his allies in five states that President Joe Biden won: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal from porn star Stormy Daniels, who sought to revive a defamation lawsuit she filed against Trump. The justices did not comment in leaving in place a lower court ruling dismissing the case.

Also on Monday, the Supreme Court said it will take up challenges to Trump administration policies affecting family-planning clinics and immigrants, even though the Biden administration has announced it is reviewing them.

The justices agreed to hear appeals over the Trump policy that keeps taxpayer-funded clinics from referring women for abortions and the “public charge” rule that could deny permanent residency status to immigrants because of their use of food stamps, Medicaid, housing vouchers or other public benefits.