COURTS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “In a legal victory for President Trump, a federal appeals court panel on Wednesday [7-10-19] ordered the dismissal of a lawsuit claiming that he had violated the Constitution by collecting profits from government guests at his hotel in the nation’s capital. A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va., found that the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia had no legal standing to sue Mr. Trump. The judges roundly rejected the premise of the case, which claimed that the Trump International Hotel, blocks from the White House, is unfairly siphoning off business from hotels in which the local jurisdictions have a financial interest. The lawsuit, which alleges violations of the Constitution’s anti-corruption, or ‘emoluments,’ clauses, was about to enter the evidence-gathering phase…Until Mr. Trump took office, no court had ever ruled on the meaning of the emoluments clauses or how they could be enforced, if at all. The Fourth Circuit panel’s decision is unlikely to be the last word. The plaintiffs could appeal to the full court, which is less conservative than the judges who ruled. All three judges on the panel were appointed by Republican presidents.”
–Sharon LaFraniere, “Federal Appeals Court Rules for Trump in Emoluments Case,” The New York Times online, July 10, 2019