Government,
Constitutional Law
Oct. 19, 2020
Emoluments case rejection weakens a constitutional guardrail
On Oct. 13, the Supreme Court denied the plaintiffs’ petition for certiorari in a case accusing the president of violating the foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution.
John H. Minan
Emeritus Professor of Law
University of San Diego School of Law
Professor Minan is a former attorney with the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. and the former chairman of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Board.
Members of Congress occasionally use litigation to challenge the executive's interference with their legislative prerogatives or institutional interests. In Blumenthal et al. v. Trump, 215 members of Congress sued President Donald Trump alleging that he has repeatedly violated the foreign emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 9, Clause 8). Because the plaintiffs did not constitute a majority of either legislative bo...
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