WASHINGTON – Following oral argument this morning in the case of Blumenthal, Nadler, et al. v. Trump in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia—in which nearly 200 Members of Congress are asking the court to hold President Donald Trump accountable to the U.S. Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause—CAC President Elizabeth Wydra, who argued today’s case for Members of Congress with Chief Counsel Brianne Gorod, issued the following statement:

Members of Congress have standing to be in court and challenge the President on his violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause. Each time the President accepts benefits from foreign states without first obtaining the affirmative consent of Congress, he injures each individual member by depriving them of a specific voting opportunity to which members are constitutionally entitled. Congress does not have legislative remedies adequate to address the President’s ongoing violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause. Clearly, only a court can force President Trump to follow this constitutional requirement.

We are hopeful that the court will apply the law and vindicate this critical anti-corruption provision of the Constitution.

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Resources:

Post-argument press conference featuring U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee (D-NY), CAC President Elizabeth Wydra, and CAC Chief Counsel Brianne Gorod, June 7, 2018: https://twitter.com/MyConstitution/status/1004804214583975936

Case page, Blumenthal, Nadler, et al. v. Trump: https://www.theusconstitution.org/litigation/trump-and-foreign-emoluments-clause/

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Now in our tenth year, Constitutional Accountability Center is a think tank, public interest law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text and history. Visit the new CAC website at www.theusconstitution.org.

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