The Trump International Hotel, Washington DC
Janhvi Bhojwani | CNBC
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed two cases over whether former President Donald Trump unlawfully profited from his companies during his tenure.
The lawsuits, which were filed by a nonprofit and the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia, alleged that the former president violated the constitutional emoluments clauses, little-known provisions that prohibit presidents from receiving gifts from local or foreign governments.
The cases were to be dismissed after President Joe Biden was elected in November. Maryland, DC and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the nonprofit that filed one of the cases, urged the judges not to hear the case.
The suits simmered for much of Trump’s presidency, a hallmark of the unusual ethical conflicts inspired by the president’s refusal to set aside his business empire upon taking office. The Supreme Court’s action came in an injunction with no known dissent.
Maryland and DC claimed that Trump violated that ban by receiving money when guests – often foreign officials – stayed at his Washington hotel.
CREW, which represented high-end businesses that it believed competed with Trump’s own establishments, made similar complaints about Trump’s hotels and restaurants in New York.
Deepak Gupta, a lawyer for CREW, argued in court documents that his clients were “clearly at a disadvantage in the battle for foreign and domestic government clients: while they can offer the best hospitality, they cannot offer the opportunity to gain the favor. come to the president. “
Two federal appeals courts, located in New York and Richmond, issued rulings to move things forward. In September, the Justice Department asked the highest court to overturn those rulings and dispose of the disputes.
After Biden’s election, the state and DC governments and CREW urged the court not to hear the cases.
In a brief letter, Karl Racine, DC’s attorney general, told the court that “Either way, the outcome of the recent presidential election renders the intervention of this court unnecessary.”
CREW Director Noah Bookbinder said in a statement Monday that “this important process has made the American people aware for four years of the pervasive corruption that came from a president who maintains a global company and receives benefits and payments from foreign and domestic governments.”
“Only Trump who lost the presidency and office ended these corrupt constitutional violations, bringing these groundbreaking lawsuits to a halt,” Bookbinder said.
Racine and Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said in a joint statement, “We are proud that because of our case, a court has ruled on the meaning of ’emoluments’ for the first time in US history and found the constitution to be federal. officials forbidding nearly anything of value from foreign or domestic governments. “
“Our case proves once again that in our country no one – not even the President of the United States – is above the law,” they said.
The Trump Organization has not returned a request for comment.