WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has brought an end to lawsuits over whether Donald Trump illegally profited off his presidency.
The justices on Monday threw out Trump’s challenge to lower court rulings that had allowed lawsuits to go forward alleging that he violated the Constitution’s emoluments clause by accepting payments from foreign and domestic officials who stay at the Trump International Hotel.
The high court also ordered the lower court rulings thrown out as well and directed appeals courts in New York and Richmond, Virginia, to dismiss the suits as moot now that Trump is no longer in office.
By dismissing the two cases, the Supreme Court has left unanswered the legal questions raised by them - including a president's ability to receive income from businesses used by government officials.
The attorneys general in Maryland and the District of Columbia challenged Trump's ability to get profits from the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., filing suit shortly after he took office. A non-profit group filed a similar suit about the Trump International Hotel in New York.
