WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court on Monday ended lawsuits over whether Donald Trump was illegally profiting from his presidency.
The judges threw Trump’s challenge to lower court rulings that had allowed lawsuits to continue, claiming he violated the constitution’s emoluments clause by accepting payments from foreign and domestic officials staying at the Trump International Hotel. residences and other businesses owned by the former president’s family.
The Supreme Court also ordered the lower court rulings to be thrown out as well, and led the courts of appeal in New York and Richmond, Virginia, to dismiss the lawsuits now that Trump is no longer in office.
The outcome does not leave any legal opinion in an area of law that has rarely been explored in US history.
The cases were lawsuits brought by Maryland and the District of Columbia, and upscale restaurants and hotels in New York and Washington, DC, which “found themselves in the unenviable position of competing with businesses owned by the President of the United States.”
The lawsuits looked for financial data showing how much national and foreign governments paid the Trump Organization to stay and eat in Trump’s properties.
Other cases involving Trump are still pending in the Supreme Court or lower courts.
Trump tries to block the Manhattan prosecutor enforcing a subpoena for his tax returns. Lower courts weigh down congressional subpoenas for Trump’s financial administration. And the judges also have Trump’s appeal against a decision prohibiting him from blocking critics from his Twitter account. Like the emoluments cases, Trump’s appeal appears to be now that he’s out of the office and also had his Twitter account suspended.