Overview
- Judge Kathleen M. Williams, in a Friday order, denied a requested 90‑day pause for settlement talks and directed both sides to show by May 20 that the case meets Article III’s requirement for real adversaries.
- She scheduled a May 27 hearing in Miami to examine whether a genuine case or controversy exists between the president and the agencies he leads.
- The judge pointed to Trump’s executive directives that instruct executive branch lawyers to follow his legal views, which could clash with the Attorney General’s duty to defend the IRS.
- Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization sued in January over the unauthorized release of his tax returns, a breach carried out by contractor Charles Littlejohn, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in 2024.
- Any monetary recovery would be paid by the federal government, and a brief from former officials warned the suit could slip into collusive litigation because the president effectively sits on both sides.