I’m sure you remember the claims against Donald Trump for enriching himself by foreign payments to his hotel in D.C. (and elsewhere), claiming that they were illegal as defined by the emoluments clause of the Constitution.
The emoluments clause, also called the foreign emoluments clause, is a provision of the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 9, Paragraph 8) that generally prohibits federal officeholders from receiving any gift, payment, or other thing of value from a foreign state or its rulers, officers, or representatives. The clause provides that:
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
The US Supreme Court dismissed lawsuits that accused former President Trump of illegally profiting from his four years in the White House as “moot” on Monday.
”The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit with instructions to dismiss the case as moot,” the court wrote in an order released Monday.
The attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia sued over whether Trump benefited financially from the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, while the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sued over the Trump International Hotel in Manhattan.
Maryland and DC accused Trump of profiting from his hotel whenever foreign dignitaries of people seeking to curry favor with his administration stayed at the property.
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