Appeals court rules for Trump in emoluments case

WASHINGTON — In a legal victory for President Donald Trump, a federal appeals court panel Wednesday ordered the dismissal of a lawsuit claiming that he has violated the Constitution by collecting profits from government guests at his hotel in the nation’s capital.

A three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., found that the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia had no legal standing to sue Trump.

The judges roundly rejected the premise of the case, which claimed that the Trump International Hotel, located blocks from the White House, is unfairly siphoning off business from hotels owned by the local jurisdictions. The lawsuit, which alleges violations of the Constitution’s anti-corruption or “emoluments” clauses, was about to enter the evidence-gathering phase.

The plaintiffs could appeal to the full court, which is somewhat less conservative than the threejudge panel. All of the judges on the panel were appointed by Republican presidents.

A similar case, filed by congressional Democrats, is now before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and legal experts predict the question could well wind up before the Supreme Court.

Trump promptly expressed his satisfaction, saying he has lost money, not enriched himself, since taking office.

“Word just out that I won a big part of the Deep State and Democrat induced Witch Hunt,” he wrote on Twitter.

The judicial panel said U.S. District Court Judge Peter J. Messitte of Greenbelt, Md., who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, had abused his discretion by allowing the emoluments case to proceed. Among other flaws, the panel said, the plaintiffs had failed to identify how a court could rectify the president’s alleged constitutional violations.

“Even if government officials were patronizing the hotel to curry the President’s favor, there is no reason to conclude that they would cease doing so were the president enjoined from receiving income from the hotel,” the 36-page opinion said. “The hotel would still be publicly associated with the president, would still bear his name and would still financially benefit members of his family.”

Karl Racine and Brian Frosh, attorneys general for the District of Columbia and Maryland, said: “We have not and will not abandon our efforts to hold President Trump accountable for violating the nation’s original anti-corruption laws.”