A federal judge in Washington held the first hearing Tuesday in the court fight over Donald Trump's financial records, a case that could speed up Trump's challenges of Congress as the President fights off Democrats' attempts to reveal his business history.

In this case, the Democratic-controlled House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed the accounting firm Mazars USA for all financial statements, communications and other documents related to Trump, a handful of his companies and his foundation from 2011 through 2018.

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Trump's personal legal team then sued Mazars to stop the subpoena, prompting the House to step up in court to argue for its investigative request.

The case weighs the extent of Congress' authority and the personal privacy claims of the President -- in a court system that's generally refrained from infringing on congressional investigations, including subpoenas.

"This is an effort to engage in law enforcement, not to legislate," said attorney William Consovoy, who is representing Trump.

Doug Letter, the House general counsel, disputed that characterization.

"Congress is not trying to send President Trump to jail," he said. "But we can still look into ... whether someone is violating the law."

The judge, Amit Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, underlined during the hearing how federal courts have almost never sided with requests to limit congressional subpoenas, and Congress has done historically important work with investigations in the past, like in the Watergate and Whitewater investigations.

"Am I right there isn't a single Supreme Court case or appellate case since 1880 that has found a congressional subpoena overstepped its bounds?" Mehta asked Trump's lawyer. "I agree there are outer limits, but it's not clear to me what they are."

Mehta said he would not rule on the subpoena this week.

All about timing

In this case, timing may be everything.

So far, the President's legal team has said Mehta is moving too quickly. Even if the Trump team were to ultimately lose the case, the federal courts could be used to tie up the subpoena for months -- potentially past the 2020 elections.

Mehta of the US District Court in DC said last week he was ready to hold a comprehensive hearing about the subpoena, essentially fast-tracking Trump's challenge toward a trial court-level resolution. But the President's attorneys said they were not being given a fair shot in court.

Mehta refused to cancel Tuesday's arguments.

In addition to Mazars, Trump is trying to stop two banks from fulfilling separate House subpoenas for his records.

The accounting firm and banks haven't taken sides in the cases. Instead, the House general counsel is arguing opposite Trump.

Michael Cohen's allegations

Mazars became a target in the House investigation after former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen accused Trump of fudging his wealth in an unsuccessful attempt to buy the Buffalo Bills football team and reduce his real estate tax burden.

The House has argued that it has the authority to subpoena Trump's information, and says it is investigating potential constitutional, conflict of interest and ethical questions related to Trump's financial holdings.

Trump's attorneys, conversely, say the President is being targeted by the Democrats for political reasons -- that the subpoena doesn't have a legislative purpose. They also argue Trump will be harmed if his private information from his accountant is exposed.

Those arguments didn't work in at least one recent court challenge of a congressional subpoena --when the opposition research firm Fusion GPS tried to block a bank from turning over its financial records to House Republicans.

The House Financial Services and Intelligence committees are also investigating the President's finances and have delivered subpoenas to Deutsche Bank, Capitol One and other major banks.

Trump, his businesses, and three of his children -- Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric -- are suing in New York federal court to stop the subpoenas to those banks and won't be heard by a judge until next week.

Separately, a fourth Democratic-controlled House committee, Ways and Means, issued a subpoena late last week for Trump's tax returns from the IRS.