LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP BUSINESS: “A federal judge in Manhattan threw out a lawsuit that alleged President Donald Trump violates the U.S. Constitution when his businesses receive payments from foreign and state governments.
A government watchdog group and business competitors of Mr. Trump who brought the lawsuit failed to show that the president’s alleged violations caused them harm or that their alleged injuries fell within ‘the zone of interests’ the U.S. Constitution’s built-in anticorruption provisions seek to protect, U.S. District Judge George Daniels wrote in a 29-page opinion…
The ruling left unanswered the question at the core of the cases: whether government payments to businesses owned by Mr. Trump puts him on the wrong side of the U.S. Constitution’s foreign and domestic emoluments clauses…
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics In Washington [CREW] filed the lawsuit January and was later joined in the case by the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United Inc., whose members are restaurants that compete with Mr. Trump’s. Eric Goode and Jill Phaneuf, who own or work for hotels that vie for the same business as Mr. Trump’s, are also named plaintiffs…
But to bring a lawsuit, parties have to show that they have been harmed or will be harmed by the conduct of the people or entities they intend to sue. The hospitality plaintiffs alleged that Mr. Trump’s hotels have an unfair advantage over theirs now that he is president…
Noah Bookbinder, CREW’s executive director, called the ruling a setback but said the group ‘will not walk away from this serious and ongoing constitutional violation.’
Mr. Bookbinder said the legal team would soon decide whether to appeal.”
-Joe Palazzolo, “Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Alleging Foreign Payments to Trump Businesses Violate U.S. Constitution,” The Wall Street Journal online, Dec. 21, 2017 05:22pm