On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors in New York can see the financial records of President Donald Trump. Trump has had his lawyers fighting a number of subpoenas from Deutsche Bank to Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr. Everyone has a different specific reason for wanting to see his financial records, but it usually boils down to seeing how he abused his campaign funds, committed tax fraud, and his illegal financial ties to businesses he has benefited while in office.

The decision was 7 to 2, with only Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissenting. Even Trump’s appointees, Justices Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh voted in favor of revealing Trump’s records, though they did not adopt the official reasoning of the majority, The New York Times reports. Chief Justice Roberts wrote in his decision that “no citizen, not even the president, is categorically above the common duty to produce evidence when called upon in a criminal proceeding.”

The president didn’t like that and he was soon ranting and raving on Twitter.

The news is actually a partial victory for Trump, despite this reaction. The decision means his records will be released to New York prosecutors but probably shielded from Congress and our curious eyes until after the election due to grand jury secrecy rules. Maybe even forever. That sucks, because you know there’s some good stuff in there. Anonymous, if you’re reading this, get those files!

Trump’s lawyers have argued that he is immune from all criminal proceedings and investigations as long as he stayed in office, so this is still something of a blow. But his lawyer Jay Sekulow tried to put a good spin on it.

“We are pleased that in the decisions issued today, the Supreme Court has temporarily blocked both Congress and New York prosecutors from obtaining the President’s tax records,” he said in a statement. “We will now proceed to raise additional constitutional and legal issues in the lower courts.”

So, it’s a mixed bag. Ultimately, it’s a pretty important decision because it does establish that a president cannot have total immunity from criminal prosecution. Seems like a good thing to be sure of:

Now if only he actually ended up in jail.

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*First Published: July 9, 2020, 8:11 am