A federal judge has thrown down a procedural challenge to President Donald Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, questioning whether the case can legally proceed at all when Trump himself oversees the agency as president.
U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Williams issued an order Friday asking both Trump's legal team and the Justice Department to justify whether a genuine legal dispute even exists between the parties. The judge zeroed in on a fundamental requirement for any federal case: that real adverseness must separate the two sides.
"Typically, adverseness is found in a situation where one party is asserting its right and the other party is resisting," Williams wrote. "Consequently, if there is no adverseness, there is no case or controversy."
The crux of the problem lies in an awkward reality: Trump sued the IRS in his personal capacity, but he is the sitting president whose authority extends over the agency. As Williams noted in her order, Trump's "named adversaries are entities whose decisions are subject to his direction."
Trump filed the lawsuit in January against the IRS and Treasury Department, claiming the agency failed to prevent the unauthorized release of his tax documents. A government contractor, Charles Littlejohn, leaked Trump's returns to news outlets before being sentenced to five years in prison in 2024. Trump alleged the IRS did not take adequate steps to secure his records.
The timing of Williams' challenge is notable because both sides have already requested that the court pause the case for 90 days. In a joint filing, Trump's attorneys and the IRS stated they were engaged in settlement negotiations and wanted time to reach a resolution.
Williams has ordered both parties to file explanations by May 20 clarifying whether a case and controversy actually exists. She scheduled a hearing for May 27 in Miami to address the matter directly.
The judge, nominated to the federal bench by former President Barack Obama in 2011, has signaled skepticism that a traditional legal adversary relationship can exist when one party controls the other.
When asked about the case this week, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stopped short of discussing specifics but addressed the broader challenge of the Justice Department handling cases involving competing interests. "The Department of Justice handles complicated decisions involving those type of issues every day, all day," Blanche said at a press conference. "We'll be able to handle it in an appropriate and ethical manner."
Trump has pledged to donate any money from the lawsuit to charity, though critics have pointed out that settlement funds would ultimately derive from taxpayer dollars.
The original complaint, filed by Trump alongside his adult sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump and the Trump Organization, claimed the leak caused "reputational and financial harm" and "public embarrassment." The lawsuit emerged after the New York Times reported that Trump paid only $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "This is a judge doing her job by asking the uncomfortable question nobody in Trump's orbit wanted to hear: how do you have a real lawsuit against an agency your client now controls?"
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