U.S. judge lets Md. and D.C. sue Trump
Attorneys general say president’s business ties violate Constitution
WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that a lawsuit filed by Maryland’s attorney general alleging that President Donald J. Trump violated a constitutional prohibition on accepting foreign gifts may proceed — the first time an “emoluments” case against the president has cleared that hurdle.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte is a setback for the Justice Department, which argued that Maryland and the District of Columbia did not have standing to sue because they could not clearly show how their residents had been harmed by the payments.
Central to the lawsuit is the claim that the Trump International Hotel in Washington is drawing customers from similar businesses in Maryland and the District — particularly among foreign diplomats, but also among state government officials who booked the Trump property while on business in the region.
The “decision is a win for the rule of law, and soundly rejects the Trump administration’s argument that nobody can challenge the president’s illegal conduct,” said Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh, who filed the suit with D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine in June. Both men are Democrats. The decision goes to a central question in the case, and one that was the focus of a lengthy argument at the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt earlier this year: May the state and the District sue the president over the properties he controls because they are in some way harmed by it?
Messitte found that the two heavily Democratic jurisdictions had provided enough evidence to support standing to sue over the impact of the Washington hotel, but not for the president’s other domestic properties, such as his Palm Beach, Fla., resort, Mar-a-Lago.
“Plaintiffs have alleged sufficient facts to show that the president’s ownership interest in the hotel has had and almost certainly will continue to have an unlawful effect on competition,” Messitte wrote.
A Justice Department spokeswoman said that “we believe this case should be dismissed, and we will continue to defend the president in court.”
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said that the administration would not comment on pending ligation.