(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump could get an opportunity to block House Democrats from obtaining his New York state tax returns, a federal judge decided.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington ruled late Monday night that the House must notify the court and the president if it plans to ask the state’s Department of Taxation and Finance to release Trump’s returns. The lawmakers then must wait two weeks for the documents, giving Trump time to ask that a judge rule on whether the Democrats’ request is lawful.

To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Davison in Washington at ldavison4@bloomberg.net;Andrew Harris in federal court in Washington at aharris16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Jeffrey

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