Trump campaign sues California on tax returns

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee filed a pair of lawsuits Tuesday against officials in California, challenging a new law requiring presidential candidates to release five years of tax returns in order to be placed on the state primary ballot in 2020.

The RNC suit called the law a “naked political attack against the sitting president of the United States.” It was filed against Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California secretary of state.

Trump and his campaign filed a second suit challenging the constitutionality of the new law, and it named the California secretary of state and the state attorney general. In that suit, they argue that states do not have the power to “supplement” the qualifications for the president, set forth by the Constitution.

The California law, known as the Presidential Tax Transparency and Accountability Act, was signed by Newsom last week and was the latest flashpoint between the White House and the state of California, which is involved in more than 40 lawsuits against the Trump administration on issues including environmental regulation and immigration.

The California state Legislature approved a similar measure in 2017, but the governor at the time, Jerry Brown, vetoed it after raising questions about whether it was constitutional.

The suits filed Tuesday claim that the law would suppress the votes of millions of Californians who want to vote for Trump by adding a new requirement for a presidential candidate. The RNC suit asserts that Newsom was creating an “extra-constitutional qualification for the office of president.” The suit argues that Democratic-controlled legislatures were challenging Trump because they were “enraged” by his 2016 victory.

“There’s an easy fix for the president,” Newsom said in a statement. “He should release his tax returns as he promised during the campaign and follow the precedent of every president since 1973.”

The vast majority of presidential nominees over decades have released their tax returns, with the exception of President Gerald Ford in 1976.