Blumenthal v. Trump
Blumenthal v. Trump, 949 F.3d 14 (D.C. Cir. 2020), was a U.S. constitutional law and federal civil procedure lawsuit heard by Circuit Judges Henderson, Tatel, and Griffith, of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The case was on appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, where District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan granted in part and denied in part the President's motion to dismiss for lack of standing, denied the President's motion to dismiss for failure to state claim, and certified interlocutory appeal.
| Blumenthal v. Trump | |
|---|---|
| Court | United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit |
| Full case name | Richard Blumenthal, et al., Appellees v. Donald J. Trump, in His Official Capacity as President of the United States of America, Appellant |
| Argued | December 9, 2019 |
| Decided | February 7, 2020 |
| Counsel for plaintiff(s) | Elizabeth Bonnie Wydra, Brian Rene Frazelle, Brianne Jenna Gorod |
| Citation(s) | 949 F.3d 14 (D.C. Cir. 2020) |
| Case history | |
| Prior history | No. 1:17-cv-01154, 335 F. Supp. 3d 45 (D.D.C. 2018); 373 F. Supp. 3d 191 (D.D.C. 2019) |
| Holding | |
| The Court of Appeals held that members of Congress lacked standing to bring an emoluments clause action against the President under U.S. Const. art. I, ยง 9, cl. 8 because individual members of the Congress lack standing to assert the institutional interests of the legislature. The district court erred in holding that the members suffered an injury based on the President depriving them of the opportunity to give or withhold their consent to foreign emoluments. | |
| Court membership | |
| Judge(s) sitting | Karen L. Henderson, David S. Tatel, Thomas B. Griffith |
| Case opinions | |
| Per curiam | |
On February 7, 2020, in a per curiam decision, the court of appeals held that individual members of Congress lacked standing to bring action against the President where they sought declaratory and injunctive relief for alleged violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause. The court, finding in favor of President Trump, reversed and remanded the lower court's holding that the members had standing to sue, with instructions to the district court to dismiss the complaint. The dismissal subsequently rendered the other issue on appeal, the holding that the members had a cause of action and stated a claim, vacated as moot.