Voters sue over candidate tax return law

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Four California voters have sued to block a new state law aimed at forcing Republican President Donald Trump to release his income tax returns.

Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed a law that requires presidential candidates to file five years of their income tax returns with the California secretary of state. Candidates who don’t won’t appear on the March 3 presidential primary ballot.

On Monday, the conservative group Judicial Watch announced it had filed a lawsuit last week to challenge the law. The four plaintiffs are two Republicans, one Democrat and one independent.

“This is a nonpartisan concern about the state running roughshod and attempting to amend the Constitution on its own,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said.

The Constitution requires three things of presidents: They have to be born in the U.S., must be at least 35 and must have lived in the country for at least 14 years.

Attorneys for Judicial Watch argue California’s law effectively alters the Constitution by adding a new requirement, something they say state governments don’t have the authority to do.

California’s law says voters need to know details about presidential candidates’ finances to “better estimate the risks of any given Presidential candidate engaging in corruption.”

Since 1973, U.S. presidents have released at least a summary of their personal income taxes. Trump has refused to release his tax returns, saying they are being audited by the IRS.

AP/The Citizens’ Voice/MARK MORAN Kady Luchetti, a registered nurse with the Health Department in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., checks Margaret Kopko’s blood pressure during the department’s “Mondays at the Market” in the city’s downtown public square.