The chances just dramatically increased that President Trump will be able to keep his tax records secret through the 2020 election. The Supreme Court’s move Monday to grant a stay in one case involving the president’s returns means that neither members of Congress nor prosecutors — specifically, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. — may not be able to dislodge them for months.

The stay, which required the votes of five justices, was expected because it was necessary to ensure the government’s ability to argue to the high court that it should hear Trump v. Mazars, regarding a House committee’s subpoena of the president’s tax records from his accounting firm, Mazars USA. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit had ruled in October that the House Oversight and Reform Committee is entitled to the records. Under the expedited schedule set by the court, the administration’s petition for certiorari — or written argument that the court should take the case — will not be filed until Dec. 5.

Read the rest of Harry Litman’s piece at The Washington Post.