Court Throws Out Emoluments Case Brought Against Trump by Democrats - The New York Times

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court panel threw out on Friday a lawsuit by 215 Democratic members of Congress accusing President Trump of illegally accepting benefits from foreign governments, saying that individual lawmakers cannot sue the president on behalf of the entire Congress.

Even assuming that the allegations against Mr. Trump were true, the Supreme Court ruled out lawsuits of this type nearly a quarter-century ago, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said.

The lawmakers claimed in their complaint that Mr. Trump had violated the Constitution by financially profiting from foreign officials who patronized his hotels and other properties. The emoluments clauses of the Constitution prohibit federal officials from accepting financial benefits from foreign governments without congressional approval.

“Our conclusion is straightforward because the members — 29 senators and 186 members of the House of Representatives — do not constitute a majority of either body and are, therefore, powerless to approve or deny the president’s acceptance of foreign emoluments,” the judges wrote.

The ruling was another piece of good news for the president, coming two days after the Senate acquitted him in his impeachment trial. Waving a copy of the ruling as he left the White House, Mr. Trump described it as “a total win” over congressional Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “It was another phony case and we won it three to nothing,” he said.

The appeals court panel was made up of Judges Karen L. Henderson and Thomas B. Griffith, who were appointed by Republican presidents, and David S. Tatel, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.

The panel said the case was “really no different from” a lawsuit by six federal lawmakers who argued that the line-item veto illegally deprived them of political power. The Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that those legislators lacked standing to sue.

Legal experts had widely considered the congressional suit to be the weakest of three lawsuits accusing Mr. Trump of violating the Constitution’s emoluments clauses by failing to divorce himself from his private businesses.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., is expected to rule this year on a case filed by the District of Columbia and the State of Maryland. A third case is pending in New York.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, who strongly supported the congressional lawsuit, said he was “deeply disappointed and alarmed” by Friday’s ruling. Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the plaintiffs were “reviewing our options.”

Let's block ads! (Why?)

"case" - Google News
February 08, 2020 at 04:44AM
https://ift.tt/2OCLUEP

Court Throws Out Emoluments Case Brought Against Trump by Democrats - The New York Times
"case" - Google News
https://ift.tt/37dicO5
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update

Bagikan Berita Ini