Updated: July / 2 / 2019 

On Tuesday, a Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives panel filed a long-awaited lawsuit in federal court demanding President Donald Trump’s individual and business tax returns.

The House Ways and Means Committee filed a lawsuit against both the U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service after Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, refused a legal request for the records and defied two congressional subpoenas seeking the returns.

The filing sounded the starting gun in what is widely expected to be a lengthy legal battle that is likely to end in the Supreme Court.

There was no official comment from the Trump administration, but Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said: “We will respond to this latest effort at presidential harassment in court.”

Democrats want Trump’s tax records from 2013 to 2018, which legal experts have said could shed light on the president’s business dealings. Such a legal process, experts said, could unfold slowly and become an issue in the 2020 election.