“When Congress subpoenas the President, the Court found, issues relating to the separation of powers come into play in a way that they don’t when a President is asked to give evidence in a criminal proceeding. The middle way the Court offered was a four-step test: Did the legislative purpose really warrant a subpoena? Was the demand for documents broader than it had to be? Did courts think that there was good evidence establishing that the purpose Congress claimed was, indeed, its purpose? And how much of a burden did it place on the President?…

“This obviously makes for a longer path toward revealing Trump’s financial entanglements than if the Court had simply ordered the President to open his files today. But… The rulings were a reminder that this country still has laws.”
Amy Davidson Sorkin, New Yorker

Others argue that “[The Intelligence Committee's investigation] concerns nothing less than whether foreign actors have financial leverage over the president. That raises the possibility of truly monumental, and potentially treasonous, acts on the part of the man residing in the White House and seeking re-election. That the chief justice of the Supreme Court is content to let even this investigation languish in lower courts as the president raises objection after objection to allowing Congress to proceed with its work is a remarkable statement of the court's deference to the presidency, regardless of the character and actions of the man who holds the office…

“Don't be fooled by the sweeping principles annunciated on Thursday… Roberts and several of his colleagues are content to wash their hands of the potentially very dirty details on the presumption that presidents in general should be given the benefit of just about every doubt.”
Damon Linker, The Week

“From the day he took office, Mr. Trump has governed as though democratic checks and balances are optional. ‘I can do whatever I want,’ he has said, more than once. This includes intervening in federal prosecutions to protect his friends, soliciting foreign interference in American elections and tear-gassing peaceful protesters for a photo op…

“Whether he was breaking fair-housing laws and cheating on taxes as a real estate developer, or interfering with federal investigations into his own abuses of power as an elected official, Mr. Trump has always staked his survival on the fact that the wheels of justice grind slowly…

“The court’s rulings hold the line, at least — ensuring that presidents cannot simply disregard congressional oversight or criminal investigation. But the fact that it took nearly a full term in office for the courts to articulate such a fundamental constitutional truth, and that still Congress and the American people will be left wondering, is damning evidence that justice delayed is justice denied.”
Editorial Board, New York Times

“The slow pace of judicial action to vindicate legitimate congressional subpoenas, which will not be helped by these decisions, serves the interests of a president like Trump who consistently seeks to expand his power and get away with ever more misconduct by testing which laws and norms are truly enforceable. That is why one of the bipartisan reforms the American people must demand is a faster process for resolving legal disputes between Congress and the executive branch. In the post-Trump era, we need our courts not merely to say what the law is — but also to do so quickly. Ultimately, the scale of reform and accountability our country desperately needs is much bigger than a victory in a Supreme Court case or two, even consequential ones like these.”
Noah Bookbinder, USA Today