The Domestic Emoluments Clause of the Constitution provides that the President’s compensation shall not be increased or decreased during his term, and that “he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument”—meaning any benefit, profit, or gift—“from the United States, or any of them.”

This provision reflects the Founders’ deep concern that government corruption could undermine the new republic and harm the American people, and they wrote it to try to prevent Presidents from putting their personal interests above those of the nation, and to ensure that no state would gain an unfair advantage over federal policy through gifts to the chief executive.

Flouting this prohibition, Florida officials have given President Trump a piece of state-owned property worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Theoretically, this land will be the site of the Trump Presidential Library, but President Trump, in his own words, “do[es] not believe in building libraries or museums.” Instead, he admits that the building is “most likely going to be a hotel with a beautiful building underneath and a 747 Air Force One in the lobby,” with significant personal financial benefits flowing to President Trump. Rather than prevent President Trump from using the gifted land for personal gain, Florida directly facilitated that outcome—it required that the conveyed land include only “components of a Presidential library, museum, and/or center,” leaving the door open for the President to develop the property in any way he sees fit. “They say it’s the best block in Miami, and the state worked with us [to get it],” President Trump told reporters.

This is exactly the kind of transaction the Domestic Emoluments Clause prohibits. And as a result of Florida’s conduct, other states have been forced into an arms race in which they must either compete with Florida to lavish gifts on the President or fear being unfairly disadvantaged—the precise scenario that the Domestic Emoluments Clause was adopted to prevent.

In May 2026, the Constitutional Accountability Center, along with the law firm of Gelber Schachter & Greenberg, brought suit on behalf of a Miami nonprofit, Miami residents, and a Miami Dade College student, all of whom have been injured by this unconstitutional transaction. The suit asks the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida to void this unconstitutional transaction and hold President Trump accountable to the Constitution.