Supreme Court’s rulings on Trump subpoenas—ho hum

The Supreme Court’s decisions Thursday on two separate cases involving subpoenas for the president’s personal financial information are legal defeats for the presidency. Politically, they are a win for Donald Trump.

Both opinions were authored by Chief Justice John Roberts and were ostensibly resounding 7–2 defeats for the president’s position. But there’s less here than meets the eye…

As a practical matter, although these cases go down as legal losses for the presidency, the Court’s remand back to lower courts ensures that the wrangling will go on for months — until long after Election Day. That’s a big political win for the president…

In other words, President Trump’s personal financial information is not going to be an issue in the 2020 campaign. In fact, it will probably be even less of an issue than it was in the 2016 campaign, since the president can now say that the Supreme Court recognized the dangers of interference in his daunting duties . . . and hope that voters won’t care that he could release his financial information voluntarily, just as he could have four years ago.

For all the anticipation, the Supreme Court’s term ends with a whimper, not a bang.