Comment Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Tuesday temporarily halted the release of former President Donald Trump’s tax records to a congressional committee and asked for more information on the case. Without the Supreme Court’s intervention, the records could have been turned over to the House Ways and Means Committee as early as Thursday. Last week, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declined to review earlier rulings finding that lawmakers are entitled to the documents in the long-running legal battle. The court also said it would not put the release of the documents on hold, while Trump’s lawyers have sought a Supreme Court review. Roberts, the judge assigned to hear emergency orders from that court, stayed the release and asked the panel to respond by noon on Nov. 10. Trump’s lawyer, Cameron Norris, told the court that if he didn’t at least put a temporary hold on the release of the documents, he wouldn’t have time to even consider Trump’s argument. “The Committee does not have an urgent need for applicant information so that it can study the general legislation regarding the funding and regulation of future IRS audits of future Presidents,” Norris wrote, saying that releasing the records would cause ” irreparable harm’ to Trump. The House deal on Trump records allows the accounting firm to decide what is released The Supreme Court has generally been unreceptive to Trump’s claims that he should be allowed to keep the records secret and that he was immune from investigation while in office. Justices in 2020 upheld the right of Congress to subpoena that information with certain limitations and last year refused to block the release of Trump’s financial records for a New York state investigation. Lawmakers have said they need Trump’s tax returns from his time in office to help assess the effectiveness of annual presidential audits. Trump has argued that Democratic lawmakers are on a fishing expedition designed to embarrass him politically. “As a purported effort to study the presidential surveillance program, the Commission’s request was way off the mark,” his Supreme Court filing states. “President Trump is not subject to this program for half the tax years in the original request, and none of the business entities in the request ever were. The request is also supposed to look into a program that has covered every President and Vice President since 1977 asking for information related to an individual.” But federal judges have consistently ruled that lawmakers established the “valid legislative purpose” required for disclosure. The appeals court said Trump’s status as a former president factored into its decision. Since all previous presidents decades ago had voluntarily released their tax returns, the request was “minimally intrusive.” But even if Trump were still president, the court found that the request would not violate the separation of powers. The court was also unmoved by Trump’s argument that his tax returns could be made public. “Congressional investigations sometimes reveal the private information of the entities, organizations, and individuals they investigate,” the committee wrote. “That doesn’t make them overly burdensome. It is the nature of investigative and legislative processes.” Rachel Weiner contributed to this report. correction An earlier version of this story misstated the deadline by which former President Donald Trump’s tax records could be released to Congress. It’s Thursday.