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USA Presidential voters on electoral college map

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact Federalism at Its Best

US Senate candidate Dan Osborn

7 Independent Campaigns to Watch in the Final Days of the Midterms

President Donald Trump

Trump doesn’t care about the midterms. You should

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stands for anthems at the Pentagon on October 15, 2026 in Arlington, Virginia. The two defense officials discussed NATO financial commitments by European countries.

Secretary Hegseth's Tenure Ban Fails Our Officers and the Academy

Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol Building

The Good Reasons and Bad Politics Surrounding a Third Trump Impeachment

California court expedites Trump challenge to new tax returns requirement

California court expedites Trump challenge to new tax returns requirement

California's Supreme Court is expediting President Trump's challenge to a new state law that would require him to release five years of tax returns in order to get on the state ballot for the 2020 election.

Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
Bill Theobald
By Bill TheobaldAug 22, 2019
Bill Theobald

Bill Theobald is senior writer at The Fulcrum, where he focuses on everything to do with voting. This December marks his 40th anniversary in the business, and he still believes -- now more than ever -- that the glow from great journalism can truly light the world.

See More Writings by author

The California Supreme Court is fast-tracking its review of a challenge to a new law that would require President Trump to make public his tax returns in order to get on the state's ballot for the 2020 election.

A lawsuit seeking to block implementation of the law was filed August 6 by the California Republican Party against Secretary of State Alex Padilla. It claims the law violates California's constitution.

Two other challenges, one filed by Trump's personal lawyers, are pending in federal court.

Trump refused to release his tax returns during the 2016 election campaign, bucking a practice followed by every presidential candidate for decades.

The court issued an expedited schedule on Wednesday requiring attorneys on both sides to file legal papers by mid-September, including anyone who wants to file briefs supporting either side.

The California law requires presidential candidates to release five years of tax returns in order to appear on the ballot. Democrats control both houses of the California Legislature and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill in late July.


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I Believe in Immigration Enforcement. But, What Happened to TK Should Concern Us All.

TK was born in Guatemala in 1962. He arrived in the United States in 1965, at the age of three, as a lawful permanent resident with his immigrant mother and American stepfather. For the next 61 years, he lived what most people would recognize as an American life.

TK grew up in American schools, graduated from a Texas high school and attended college. As a child, his classmates struggled to pronounce his given name, Enrique. They began calling him “Keke,” a nickname that eventually became “TK”—the name he has been known by ever since. He married, raised three daughters, divorced, and eventually remarried, all in the US. Today, he is a grandfather and a successful businessman whose life has been rooted in this country since the age of three.

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21st-Century Gig Workers Need Portable Benefits

In recent years, the US labor force has been undergoing a fundamental transformation. In today’s "Uber economy," gig workers, freelancers, contractors, temps, permatemps, remote workers after COVID, and so-called “independent workers” have been championed by Silicon Valley and Wall Street as the “new way to work”—the wave of the future, especially with AI changing the nature of work itself.

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In Colorado’s San Luis Valley, a family looking for developmental support for their toddler may drive over an hour to reach a specialist, if one is even taking new patients. In too many communities across the country, like the San Luis Valley, the problem isn’t that services don’t exist. It’s that pediatricians, childcare providers, and mental health professionals are all working toward the same goal, but may not be working together.

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