When the Democrats filed an emoluments case back in 2017, the Supreme Court wasn’t willing to take it up. The lower court’s ruling about the case is going to be allowed to stand.
The resistance is taking on water and it is starting to sink. Reuters is here with the breakdown and we are glad to see that common sense is starting to prevail in this instance.
“The Supreme Court on Tuesday put an end to a lawsuit brought by congressional Democrats that accused President Donald Trump of violating anti-corruption provisions in the U.S. Constitution with his business dealings,” their report reads, in part.
“The justices refused to hear an appeal by 215 Senate and House of Representatives Democrats of a lower court ruling that found that the lawmakers lacked the necessary legal standing to bring the case that focused on the Republican president’s ownership of the Trump International Hotel in Washington” is the part that truly captured our attention.
“In the case brought by congressional Democrats, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in February ruled that individual members of Congress have limited ability to litigate questions affecting the legislative branch as a whole,” the report concludes. There is one more tidbit that definitely caught our eye while we were reading through the report.
There is one judge who was willing to allow the case to proceed initially but it is not a name that should be unfamiliar to anyone. It’s Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, the same judge who is not ready to dismiss the case that has been filed against Michael Flynn. It’s pretty funny how that one ended up working out, isn’t it? This is a win that needs our appreciation, though.
To truly understand what has happened here, we need to take a closer look at this history of emoluments clause lawsuits. This process began before Trump even had the chance to take office.
The process started when Richard Painter took over a position that was previously held by David Brock. He started working as a vice chairman for the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington group.
As you may already know, this is a left-leaning organization. Board chairman Norm Eisden and Painter penned a piece for The Atlantic before Trump took office entitled “Trump Could Be in Violation of the Constitution His First Day in Office”. It did not take long before they tried their best to bring this half baked ideas to fruition.
Trump had barely been inaugurated when they decided to get started with this process. They alleged that his hotel ownership placed him in violation of the clause that governs these lawsuits.
He stood accused of using his hotel business as a means of accepting payment from various foreign dignitaries. The lawsuit immediately ran into issues and the CREW organization decided to expand it.
Later in 2017, the Democrats decided that they were ready to get on the bandwagon. They filed their own version of the suit at this time.
Their hope was that Congress would be able to establish proper standing for them. While this was definitely the hope at the time, almost four years have passed and nothing has changed.
Rep. Nadler, Sen. Blumenthal, and Judge Sullivan have tried their absolute best and to no avail. Dozens of other Democrats got involved with the lawsuit but nothing came of it.
It’s a much-needed victory and we hope that they feel the requisite amount of shame for their actions. The Democrats’ current case might be done but they are still planning on bringing at least two more lawsuits.
This is one party that does not know how to quit while they are somewhat ahead. Even though the lawsuit was originally dismissed back in 2017, the Democrats reinstated it last year.
It’s a pathetic waste of everyone’s time but that has never stopped them in the past. If Trump is able to make his way back into office, we are sure that this case will receive renewed interest.
