Federal appeals court rules for Trump in emoluments case.
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court Wednesday sided with President Donald Trump, dismissing a lawsuit claiming the president is illegally profiting from foreign and state government visitors at his luxury hotel in downtown Washington.
The unanimous ruling from the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit is a victory for the president in a novel case brought by the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia involving anti- corruption provisions in the emoluments clauses of the U. S. Constitution.
In its ruling, the threejudge panel said the attorneys general lacked legal grounds to bring the lawsuit alleging the president is violating the Constitution when his business accepts payments from state and foreign governments. The decision — from Judges Paul Niemeyer, Dennis Shedd and Marvin Quattlebaum Jr. — also stops dozens of subpoenas to federal government agencies and Mr. Trump’s private business entities for financial records related to the Washington hotel.
“The District and Maryland’s interest in enforcing the Emoluments Clauses is so attenuated and abstract that their prosecution of this case readily provokes the question of whether this action against the President is an appropriate use of the courts, which were created to resolve real cases and controversies between the parties,” Judge Niemeyer wrote in the 36page opinion.
Mr. Trump quickly took to Twitter to celebrate the ruling, referring to the lawsuit as “ridiculous” and “a big part of the Deep State and Democrat induced Witch Hunt.”
“I don’t make money, but lose a fortune for the honor of serving and doing a great job as your President ( including accepting Zero salary!),” he wrote.
The president has stepped back from day- today management of the Trump International Hotel and his other businesses, but he maintains ownership.
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and D. C. Attorney General Karl Racine, both Democrats, said in a joint statement after the ruling that the three- judge panel “got it wrong.”
“Although the court described a litany of ways in which this case is unique, it failed to acknowledge the most extraordinary circumstance of all: President Trump is brazenly profiting from the Office of the President in ways that no other President in history ever imagined and that the founders expressly sought — in the Constitution — to prohibit,” they said. “We will continue to pursue our legal options to hold him accountable.”
A federal appeals court in Washington is considering a separate “emoluments” lawsuit brought by Congressional Democrats, who this week began issuing dozens of subpoenas for financial records from the president’s private entities.