By Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday announced it will hear a dispute over whether President Donald Trump’s tax and financial records should be disclosed on May 12 as part of its first ever round of oral arguments by teleconference.
The court, forced to adapt to the coronavirus outbreak, is hearing 10 cases over a two week period starting on May 4.
Other cases of note include two on the complex U.S. presidential election system and whether Electoral College electors are free to break their pledges to back the candidate who wins their state’s popular vote, which will be heard on May 13.
The nine justices will hear a Trump administration bid to let employers obtain religious exemptions from having any health insurance offered to employees to help pay for women’s birth control on May 6 and a religious rights dispute involving Catholic schools in California on May 11.
The justices and lawyers for the litigants will all participate remotely.
In another break with tradition, the court will provide a live audio feed of the arguments to the news media.
Trump’s appeals in three separate cases to prevent his financial records from being handed over to Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives committees and a New York prosecutor were due to have been heard on March 31 but were postponed on March 16 when the court delayed a series of cases over coronavirus concerns.
(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung; Editing by Tom Brown)
