''Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. Trump'' was a case brought before the

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of the State of New York. Two of these are in New York Ci ...

. The plaintiffs, watchdog group

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), is a progressive nonprofit 501(c)(3) watchdog organization devoted to U.S. government ethics and accountability.''Washington Information Directory 2017-2018''; CQ Press; 2017; Pg. 327 ...

(CREW), hotel and restaurant owner Eric Goode, an association of restaurants known as ROC United, and an

Embassy Row Embassy Row is the informal name for a section of Northwest Washington, D.C., with a high concentration of embassies, diplomatic missions, and diplomatic residences. It spans Massachusetts Avenue N.W. between 18th and 35th street, bounded ...

hotel event booker named Jill Phaneuf alleged that the defendant,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, was in violation of the Foreign Emoluments Clause, a

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

provision that bars the president or any other federal official from taking gifts or payments from foreign governments. CREW filed its

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 January 23, 2017, shortly after Trump was inaugurated as president. An amended complaint, adding the hotel and restaurant industry plaintiffs, was filed on April 18, 2017. A second amended complaint was filed on May 10, 2017. CREW was represented by several prominent lawyers and legal scholars in the case.Complaint
''Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington'', No. 1:17-cv-00458 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 23, 2017)

U.S. District Judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district. Each district cov ...

George B. Daniels dismissed the case on December 21, 2017, holding that plaintiffs lacked

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

.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. Trump
', 17 Civ. 458 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 21, 2017). On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the dismissal, reinstated the suit, and remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings.Sharon LaFraniere
U.S. Appeals Court Reinstates Emoluments Case Against Trump

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

(September 13, 2019). In January 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court instructed the lower courts to dismiss the case (and a similar case brought by Maryland and the District of Columbia) as moot, because Trump was no longer president.

Background

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington stated that because Trump-owned buildings take in rent, room rentals and other payments from foreign governments, the president has breached the Foreign Emoluments Clause. The Constitution says that "no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under the United States, 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." The case also includes a claim under the Domestic Emoluments Clause. An Emoluments Clause lawsuit directed at a sitting president has never been tested in court, and there is little judicial precedent in this area of constitutional law. The Clause is, however, the subject of a considerable body of precedent from the Justice Department's

Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that supports the attorney general in their role as legal adviser to the president and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the atto ...

and the Office of the Comptroller General. The plaintiffs are asking for an

injunction An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...

and

declaratory judgment A declaratory judgment, also called a declaration, is the legal determination of a court that resolves legal uncertainty for the litigants. It is a form of legally binding preventive by which a party involved in an actual or possible legal ma ...

directed at President Trump requiring that he cease violations of the Emoluments Clauses. On January 23, 2017, after the action was filed in U.S. District Court, Trump rejected the arguments underlying the lawsuit as "Without merit," and "Totally without merit" during his morning press conference at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

. CREW is represented in the suit by "a group former White House ethics lawyers, constitutional scholars, and Supreme Court litigators," including constitutional law professor Laurence H. Tribe of Harvard Law School; Supreme Court litigator Deepak Gupta of Gupta Wessler PLLC; Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the

University of California, Berkeley School of Law The University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Berkeley Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley. The school was commonly referred to as "Boalt Hall" for many years, although it was never the official name. This cam ...

; Richard Painter, law professor at the University of Minnesota and chief ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration; and Zephyr Teachout of

Fordham Law School Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. According to Fordham University School of Law's ABA- ...

. The United States Department of Justice represents Trump.

Quotes from second amended complaint

District court proceedings

President Trump filed a

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 administrativ ...

on June 9, 2017. on the grounds that the plaintiffs had no right to sue and that the described conduct was not illegal. A response to the motion to dismiss was filed on August 4, 2017, with a DOJ reply due by September 22, 2017. A full answer from DOJ lawyers to the facts alleged in the complaint was due on August 11, 2017. Oral arguments were expected October 18, 2017. On December 21, 2017, the motion to dismiss was granted; Judge George B. Daniels held that plaintiffs lacked

Second Circuit proceedings

On February 16, 2018, the dismissal of the suit was appealed by CREW, primarily on an economically informed theory of emolument-related injury to competitors,Brief of Plaintiffs-Appellants
filed April 24, 2018, 2d Cir. Docket 18-0474, Document 27 with all briefs filed by both parties by June 27. Deepak Gupta of Gupta Wessler presented oral argument for the plaintiffs before a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit on October 30, 2018. On September 13, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York (in a 2 to 1 decision) reinstated the lawsuit and sent it back to the lower court so that the case can move forward. The appellate decision was critical of the July 2019 appellate decision in '' D.C. and Maryland v. Trump''. In January 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court instructed the lower courts to dismiss the case (and a similar case brought by Maryland and the District of Columbia) as moot, because Trump was no longer president. On April 23, 2021, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a mandate which dismissed the case. 17-cv-458. MANDATE of USCA.
/ref>

References

{{Reflist, 2

External links

Copy of complaint filed in United States District Court
(PDF, 37 pages, 271 KB)
Copy of Second Amended Complaint filed in United States District Court
(PDF, 68 pages, 407 KB)
Copy of Memorandum in support of motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction and for Failure to State a Claim
(PDF, 70 pages, 687 KB) Donald Trump litigation United States District Court for the Southern District of New York cases United States Constitution Article One case law United States Constitution Article Two case law United States standing case law 2017 in United States case law United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit cases