WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court on Monday put an end to lawsuits over whether Donald Trump illegally benefited from his presidency.
Judges challenged Trump to issue lower court rulings that had allowed for progress in lawsuits alleging he violated the Constitution emoluments clause by accepting payments from foreign and domestic officials staying at the Trump International Hotel and sponsoring other businesses owned by the former president his family.
The high court also ordered lower court rulings as well and directed appeals courts in New York and Richmond, Virginia, to dismiss the claims as debatable now that Trump is no longer in office. .
The result leaves no judicial opinions about books in an area of law that has rarely been explored in U.S. history.
The cases involved lawsuits filed by Maryland and the District of Columbia, and high-end restaurants and hotels in New York and Washington, DC, which “were in the unenviable position of having to compete with companies owned by the President of the United States.”
The lawsuits sought financial records showing how much state and foreign governments have paid the Trump Organization to stay and eat on Trump’s properties.
Other Trump-related cases remain in the Supreme Court or lower courts.
Trump is trying to block the Manhattan district attorney the execution of a subpoena for your tax return. Lower courts weigh Congress citations for Trump’s financial records. And judges are also facing Trump’s appeal of a decision banning him from blocking critics on his Twitter account. Like the emolument cases, Trump’s appeal would seem debatable now that he’s out of office and also had his Twitter account suspended.