WASHINGTON—U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Emmet Sullivan refused the Trump administration’s motion to dismiss a Democratic lawmaker-initiated lawsuit claiming that America’s first billionaire president violated the Constitution’s rarely cited Foreign Emoluments Clause.
The lawsuit alleges that President Donald Trump is violating the clause, which prevents any “Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them” from accepting “any present, Emolument, Office, or Title ... from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” The clause forbids government officials from receiving gifts from foreign states and monarchies without the consent of Congress, in the hope of shielding the “small-R” republican character of the United States from corrupting foreign influences.
