A federal appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit against President Trump, ruling that individual members of Congress cannot sue the president to stop his violations of the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
The unanimous decision by a three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Friday dismissed the lawsuit filed by 200 Democratic members of Congress, the Washington Post reports.
At issue is whether or not the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause bars the President from accepting money from foreign governments through his luxury hotel chain, especially his D.C. hotel. Foreign officials have said they rent rooms and suites, and dine at the Old Post Office, which is owned by the federal government and leased by the Trump Organization, to curry favor with the President.
But the Court, after the President stepped in to block the suit, would not even address the issue, instead ruling the suit itself was effectively invalid.
The court said individual members, even the 200 who filed the suit, cannot sue the President unless they represent the entire body. They cited previous rulings, saying since Congress acts via majority rule it needs to do so when suing the President as well.
“The Members can, and likely will, continue to use their weighty voices to make their case to the American people, their colleagues in the Congress and the President himself, all of whom are free to engage that argument as they see fit. But we will not—indeed we cannot—participate in this debate,” the court said in its unsigned opinion.