Washington DC - Supreme Court Justice John Roberts issued a temporary hold on the release of former President Donald Trump's tax returns on Tuesday, keeping them away from a House Ways and Means Committee for now.

The "administrative stay" was placed by Roberts, who oversees the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, after Trump's legal team put in a request on Monday.

The House Ways and Means Committee has been requesting access to returns spanning from 2015 to 2020 for the past three years, and the DC Circuit court had initially ordered them to be turned over by the Internal Revenue Service later this week.

Now, the hold will pause the process again until at least November 10, by which time the House must respond, Robert's order said.

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Trump's team and others in related cases have issued multiple emergency petitions in an attempt to delay trials, and court justices have been granting them.

In October, Justice Clarence Thomas put a block on an order that required senator Lindsey Graham to testify before a Georgia grand jury, and Justice Elena Kagan blocked a subpoena from the committee investigating the January 6 attack requesting phone and text records of Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward.

Donald Trump is the only president in the last 40 years to not release his tax returns.