Mr. Trump: Robbing America Before Her Eyes?
D.C., Maryland can proceed with lawsuit alleging Trump violated emoluments clauses
A federal judge ruled that the District of Columbia and Maryland may proceed with a lawsuit against President Trump alleging that Trump’s business dealings have violated the Constitution’s ban on receiving improper “emoluments,” or payments, from individual states and foreign governments.
The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte in Maryland, marks the first time that a lawsuit of this kind has cleared the initial legal hurdle — a finding that the plaintiffs have legal standing to sue the president.
In his opinion, Messitte gave credence to arguments by D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine (D) and Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) that Trump unfairly profits from business at downtown Washington’s Trump International Hotel, in which the president continues to hold a financial interest.
Messitte cited examples of government clients — including Kuwait and Bahrain —
patronizing the Washington hotel, possibly to the detriment of competitors and taxpayers. He wrote that Maryland and the District had sufficiently argued that Trump’s hotel “has had and almost certainly will continue to have an unlawful effect on competition.”
As part of that ruling, Messitte said he rejected an argument made by critics of the lawsuit — that, under the Constitution, only Congress may decide whether the president has violated the emoluments clauses.
“In absence of Congressional approval, this Court holds that it may review the actions of the President to determine if they comply with the law,” Messitte wrote.
Judge Allows Emoluments Clause Lawsuit Against President Trump to Proceed
http://time.com/5349217/judge-trump-emoluments-clause-lawsuit/
By STEPHEN BRAUN / AP July 25, 2018
WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Maryland and the District of Columbia can proceed with their lawsuit accusing President Donald Trump of unconstitutionally accepting payments from foreign and state interests through his Washington hotel. The decision clears the way for the plaintiffs to seek financial records and other materials from the president’s company.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte, based in Maryland, rejected arguments from the Justice Department that earnings from business activities, including hotel room stays, do not qualify as unconstitutional gifts. At issue is the Constitution’s emoluments clause, which bans federal officials from accepting benefits from foreign or state governments without congressional approval. The plaintiffs argue Trump’s hotel harms area businesses because of the president’s ties.
Messitte’s ruling was the first time that a federal judge has interpreted the emoluments clause, which had never been fully tested in an American courtroom. Two other lawsuits based on the emoluments clause are also being heard in other federal courts.
In his 52-page opinion, the judge said attorneys general for Maryland and the District had** “convincingly argued” that the Constitution treats emoluments “as any ‘profit,’ ‘gain,’ or ‘advantage.'”**
“The Court finds the President is subject to both Emoluments Clauses of the Constitution and that the term ’emolument’ in both clauses extends to any profit, gain or advantage,” Messitte wrote.
The judge ordered both sides to provide a schedule of their next steps within 21 days, including how to handle legal discovery of records sought by Maryland and the District...The Maryland case is one of three lawsuits against Trump based on the emoluments clause that are winding through the federal courts. A New York federal judge turned down another lawsuit from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, but the case is now on appeal. And a case brought by nearly 200 Democratic Party congressional officials is also being heard by a federal judge in Washington, D.C.
"O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!"(--Walter Scott) Wake up America! CM
Comments
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Nothing Burger again. That is a VERY liberal reading of the Constitution and wouldn't hold up in the Supreme Court.
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Time will tell. CM
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And now it looks like the Democrats are having a new panic. Hispanics are turning to Trump.
Granted this is Billium proof, but the news source is manna to liberals even if the actual news produces therapy-inducing anxiety.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/07/politics/democrats-hispanics-midterm-elections-fault-lines/index.html
