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Page Number: 19

14 

TRUMP v. MAZARS USA, LLP 

Opinion of the Court 

Solicitor General would apply the same exacting standards 
to  all  subpoenas  for  the  President’s  information,  without 
recognizing  distinctions  between  privileged  and  nonprivi-
leged  information,  between  official  and  personal  infor-
mation,  or  between  various  legislative  objectives.    Such  a 
categorical  approach  would  represent  a  significant  depar-
ture from the longstanding way of doing business between
the branches, giving short shrift to Congress’s important in-
terests in conducting inquiries to obtain the information it 
needs to legislate effectively.  Confounding the legislature 
in that effort would be contrary to the principle that: 

“It is the proper duty of a representative body to look 
diligently  into  every  affair  of  government  and  to  talk
much about what it sees.  It is meant to be the eyes and
the voice, and to embody the wisdom and will of its con-
stituents.  Unless Congress have and use every means
of acquainting itself with the acts and the disposition
of  the  administrative  agents  of  the  government,  the
country  must  be  helpless  to  learn  how  it  is  being 
served.”  United  States  v.  Rumely,  345  U. S.  41,  43 
(1953) (internal quotation marks omitted). 

Legislative inquiries might involve the President in ap-
propriate cases; as noted, Congress’s responsibilities extend 
to  “every  affair  of  government.”    Ibid.  (internal  quotation
marks omitted).  Because the President’s approach does not
take adequate account of these significant congressional in-
terests, we do not adopt it. 

D 
The  House  meanwhile  would  have  us  ignore  that  these
suits involve the President.  Invoking our precedents con-
cerning  investigations  that  did  not  target  the  President’s
papers, the House urges us to uphold its subpoenas because 
they “relate[ ] to a valid legislative purpose” or “concern[ ] a