Alan Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School and one of this country's foremost authorities on the U.S. Constitution, believes the Supreme Court made an egregious error in permitting Congress to publicly release the tax returns of former President Donald Trump — without his authorization.
"I think it's a terrible, terrible precedent. The Supreme Court was wrong — all nine justices were wrong," Dershowitz told Newsmax Friday evening, while appearing on "Spicer & Co." with host Lyndsay Keith.
"[The Supreme Court] will come to regret this, and I predict they will reverse [the ruling], just the way they came to regret the [former President Bill] Clinton decision ... of requiring a sitting president of the United States to subject himself to a deposition regarding sexual allegations," said Dershowitz, who's also promoting his latest book, "The Price of Principle: Why Integrity Is Worth The Consequences."
When discussing the Democrat-controlled Congress's fixation with Trump tax returns over the last 4-6 years, Dershowitz chastised the party for opening up a "voyeur's paradise" of targeted partisan behavior.
Dershowitz also asked from a legal standpoint, "'How much money did you make?' has nothing to do with the legislative process.
"It's an obvious pretext by a Democrat-controlled committee," said Dershowitz, and now it may lead to unintended consequences for Democrat politicians — along with President Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
"If I were Hunter Biden, I would be very careful now about my tax returns," warned Dershowitz.
During the Newsmax interview, Dershowitz was asked about the traditional "custom" of presidents releasing their tax returns, dating back to the days of Richard M. Nixon.
On the surface, Dershowitz favors such a transparent notion. However, he also said "there's a big difference" between the commander-in-chief voluntarily releasing their tax returns and "Congress compelling you to do so."
And now, the Supreme Court has unwittingly established a "terrible precedent regarding the civil liberties for all Americans," lamented Dershowitz.
Regarding reports of the IRS auditing then-President Trump just once during his four-year White House term, Dershowitz said that kind of information should have had no bearing on Congress's actions, especially since Trump, as a well-known billionaire and public figure, is "probably one of the most audited people in modern history."
Dershowitz continued: "It's an absurd argument. If you want to find out if [Trump] had been audited, just call the IRS and subpoena their documents. Looking at a tax return doesn't tell you if you it was audited or not. It only tells you what's in the tax returns."
Prior to the superfluous Trump obsession, Dershowitz said Congress had it right in having a law which barred private citizens' tax returns being released to the public, without their approval.
Within that rationale, Dershowitz relayed a story from years ago when an unnamed worker at the IRS looked at his tax returns, without prior consent, and "that person was prosecuted."
That was then, this is now, said Dershowitz. As part of this new legal change, Republicans now possess the power to force Dems into an uncomfortable position regarding their own tax returns.
"Two constitutional wrongs don't make a right," added Dershowitz.
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