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She has been involved in the defense of anti-abor- last year, when he faced allegations of sexual mis-
tion activists who recorded hidden camera footage conduct.
aimed at discrediting Planned Parenthood. A fed- She is not the only former Kavanaugh clerk with
eral jury last month ruled against the activists, and a “not qualified” ranking to be confirmed to the fed-
awarded Planned Parenthood a $2 million judge- eral bench. The Senate earlier this year confirmed
ment. Pitlayk filed a notice of withdrawal from that Justin Walker to a seat in the Western District of
case Tuesday, saying she will no longer be employed Kentucky, after he received the rating over a lack of
at the center. trial experience. ¦

Pitlyk also clerked for Kavanaugh when he was a Jacqueline Thomsen, based in Washington, is a re-
judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Cir- porter covering D.C. courts and the legal side of
cuit. She was a staunch defender of the now-justice politics. Contact her at [email protected]. On
during his contentious nomination proceedings Twitter: @jacq_thomsen

Trump’s Lawyers Make Their Case at
SCOTUS to Keep Financial Records Secret

By Marcia Coyle

President Donald Trump’s lawyers on Thursday
took the next step in their fight to keep his fi-
nancial records secret, formally asking the U.S.
Supreme Court to review a U.S. House subpoena
that a lower court in Washington found to be a law-
ful exercise of congressional oversight.
In Trump’s petition, his counsel William Con-
sovoy, partner in Consovoy McCarthy, asked the
justices to decide whether the House Committee
has the constitutional and statutory authority to is-
sue the subpoena.
“At its core, this controversy is about wheth-
er—and to what degree—Congress can exercise
dominion and control over the Office of the Presi-
dent,” Consovoy wrote. “It is unsurprising, then,
that the one thing the district court, the panel, and
the dissenting judges all agreed upon is this case William S. Consovoy.
raises important separation-of-powers issues. These Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM

are profoundly serious constitutional questions that The justices had set a noon Thursday deadline for
the court should decide.” Trump’s lawyers to file a petition challenging the merits
The Supreme Court on Nov. 25, without dissent, of the appellate court’s decision, a timeline that would
temporarily blocked enforcement of a subpoena is- let the court—if it chooses—hear the dispute this term.
sued by the House Oversight and Reform Committee The short deadline for the filing of the petition in-
to Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA. A divided dicates the high court will move quickly to decide
three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the whether it will hear arguments in the dispute. The
D.C. Circuit had upheld the subpoena in October.
¦ Continued on PAGE 26

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