Appeals court rules Democrats lack legal standing to sue Trump over alleged emoluments violations [View all]

[babylonsister]

JFC.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/federal-appeals-court-dismisses-trump-emoluments-case-n1132441?fbclid=IwAR1Nkw6LDTvdtItc4R3pJL3u_h8fQapQWQ-wH07yYzrstCy-BbabYlfXB1c

Appeals court rules Democrats lack legal standing to sue Trump over alleged emoluments violations
The suit, which was dismissed on technical grounds, argued the president has violated the Constitution with his businesses, including a hotel popular with foreign officials.
Appeals court: Members of Congress lack legal standing for Trump emoluments suit
Feb. 7, 202001:47
Feb. 7, 2020, 10:51 AM EST
By Dareh Gregorian


A federal appeals court on Friday dismissed Democratic lawmakers' lawsuit against President Donald Trump alleging he has violated the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution on technical grounds.

In the ruling, the three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found the members of Congress did not have legal standing to bring the lawsuit against the president for violating the clause, which bars federal officials from collecting payments from foreign governments without the approval of Congress.

In their unsigned ruling, the judges cited Supreme Court precedent, noting the 215 lawmakers on the lawsuit are not the majority of Congress, and that they might have had standing if they had filed the suit as a majority. "[O]nly an institution can assert an institutional injury," the ruling says.

"Here, regardless of rigor, our conclusion is straightforward because the members — 29 senators and 186 members of the House of Representatives — do not constitute a majority of either body and are, therefore, powerless to approve or deny the president’s acceptance of foreign emoluments," the decision says.

Democratic senators and House members argued the president frequently violates the rule with his businesses, including a Washington, D.C., hotel that's popular with foreign government officials.

The constitutional clause at issue in the case reads, "no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state."

Trump told reporters on the White House lawn that the suit was "another phony case."

"It was a total win," he said.