''Blumenthal v. Trump'', 949 F.3d 14 (D.C. Cir. 2020), was a

U.S. constitutional law The constitutional law of the United States is the body of law governing the interpretation and implementation of the United States Constitution. The subject concerns the scope of power of the United States federal government compared to the ind ...

and federal civil procedure lawsuit heard by Circuit Judges Henderson, Tatel, and Griffith, of the

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate cou ...

. The case was on appeal from the

United States District Court for the District of Columbia The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a United States district court, federal district court in the District of Columbia. It also occasionally handles (jointly with the United States Dist ...

, where District Judge

Emmet G. Sullivan Emmet Gael Sullivan (born June 4, 1947) is an American attorney and jurist serving as a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Ho ...

granted in part and denied in part the President's

motion to dismiss In United States law, a motion is a procedural device to bring a limited, contested issue before a court for decision. It is a request to the judge (or judges) to make a decision about the case. Motions may be made at any point in administrati ...

for lack of standing, denied the President's motion to dismiss for failure to state claim, and certified

interlocutory appeal An interlocutory appeal (or interim appeal), in the law of civil procedure in the United States, occurs when a ruling by a trial court is appealed while other aspects of the case are still proceeding. Interlocutory appeals are allowed only under s ...

. On February 7, 2020, in a ''per curiam'' decision, the court of appeals held that individual members of Congress lacked standing to bring action against the President where they sought declaratory and injunctive relief for alleged violations of the

Foreign Emoluments Clause The Foreign Emoluments Clause is a provision in Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution, that prohibits the federal government from granting titles of nobility, and restricts members of the federal government from recei ...

. The court, finding in favor of President Trump, reversed and remanded the lower court's holding that the members had standing to sue, with instructions to the district court to dismiss the complaint.Blumenthal v. Trump, 19-5237, 2020 WL 593891, at *5 (D.C. Cir. Feb. 7, 2020) The dismissal subsequently rendered the other issue on appeal, the holding that the members had a cause of action and stated a claim,

vacated A vacated judgment (also known as vacatur relief) makes a previous legal judgment legally void. A vacated judgment is usually the result of the judgment of an appellate court, which overturns, reverses, or sets aside the judgment of a lower court. ...

moot Moot may refer to: * Mootness, in American law: a point where further proceedings have lost practical significance; whereas in British law: the issue remains debatable * Moot court, an activity in many law schools where participants take part in s ...

Background and initiation of suit

Alexander Hamilton, one of the framers of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

, was concerned about foreign corruption of the new United States. Towards that end, the

can be seen as a measure to prevent corruption, but one that has yet to be interpreted by the courts. The plaintiffs, 29 Senators and 186 Representatives, led by the

Ranking Member In United States politics, a ranking member is the most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the minority party. On many committees the ranking minority member, along with the Chair, serve as '' ex officio'' member ...

of the Constitution Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee,

Richard Blumenthal Richard Blumenthal (; born February 13, 1946) is an American lawyer and politician who is the senior United States senator from Connecticut, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he is one of the wealthiest members of ...

and the similarly situated Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee,

John Conyers Jr. John James Conyers Jr. (May 16, 1929October 27, 2019) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1965 to 2017. The districts he represented always included part of western Detroit. ...

, alleged that the defendant,

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

, was in violation of the

, a

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

provision that bars the president or any other federal official from taking gifts or payments from foreign governments without the approval of Congress. They alleged that this behavior impeded their constitutional right to be advised of such foreign payments and their duty to weigh in on potentially unauthorized emoluments. With lawyers from the

Constitutional Accountability Center The Constitutional Accountability Center (CAC) is a non-profit think tank located in Washington, D.C., that seeks to advance a progressive interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. The group has filed numerous lawsuits against forme ...

, the plaintiffs filed their

complaint In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties (the plaintiff(s)) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the party ...

on June 14, 2017, shortly after similar lawsuits from watchdog groups, economic competitors, and state and local governments made the news. The court rejected several of Trump's arguments, and Trump's request for a writ of

mandamus (; ) is a judicial remedy in the form of an order from a court to any government, subordinate court, corporation, or public authority, to do (or forbear from doing) some specific act which that body is obliged under law to do (or refrain fr ...

in the case was rejected by a higher court, but the case was stayed until December 2019 while a permitted immediate appeal of the case-to-date was decided.

Timeline

The initial case was filed on June 14, 2017. The defendant was served immediately, FRCP Rule (i)(2). but because President Trump was being sued in his official capacity, no official action was required before August 14, 2017. On September 15, 2017, the government filed a motion to dismiss the case. Various supplemental briefs were filed between September and April 2018. Oral arguments were heard in June 2018, mostly debating whether lawmakers have standing to sue the president. U.S. District Judge

Emmet Sullivan Emmet Sullivan, (May 27, 1887 – November 3, 1970) was an American sculptor. He was born in Powder River, Montana, and claimed to have worked on Mount Rushmore. He created the five dinosaurs in Dinosaur Park in Rapid City, South Dakota in ...

ruled on September 28, 2018, that the plaintiff members of Congress have standing to sue in the case, but left for another day any ruling on other arguments raised by the Department of Justice's motion to dismiss. On April 30, 2019, Judge Sullivan denied Trump's motion to dismiss and further ruled that the plaintiff members of Congress had standing to sue, that there was grounds for injunctive relief against the President, and that the relief sought was constitutional. On August 21, 2019, Judge Sullivan, responding to the July 19, 2019 opinion of the D.C. Circuit court denying Trump petition for a writ of mandamus, stayed the case pending a newly allowed interlocutory appeal of previous rulings to the D.C. Circuit. That appeal was argued before a three judge panel on December 9, 2019, and the panel issued its decision,

per curiam In law, a ''per curiam'' decision (or opinion) is a ruling issued by an appellate court of multiple judges in which the decision rendered is made by the court (or at least, a majority of the court) acting collectively (and typically, though n ...

, ruling that the members of Congress lacked

standing Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an ''erect'' ("orthostatic") position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the ...

to sue, remanding the case to the district court with orders to dismiss.United States Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit, opinion PER CURIAM, February 7, 2020, https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/2EFD382E65E33B3C852585070055D091/$file/19-5237-1827549.pdf

References

External links

* {{caselaw source , case = ''Blumenthal v. Trump'', 949 F.3d 14 (

D.C. Cir. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate cou ...

2020) , googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=18423197138123968805 , leagle =https://www.leagle.com/decision/infco20200207152
Copy of complaint filed in United States District Court
(PDF, 54 pages, 943 KB) *Appeals Court Decision, February 7, 202

(PDF, 12 pages)
PLAINTIFF'S SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT
(PDF, 59 pages) 2017 in United States case law Donald Trump litigation United States Constitution Article One case law United States district court cases 2020 in United States case law United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit cases

Background and initiation of suit

Timeline

See also

References

External links