WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court on Monday put an end to lawsuits over whether Donald Trump used his presidency illegally.
The judges expressed Trump’s challenge to lower court rulings that allowed lawsuits to continue, claiming he violated the Constitution’s compensation clause by accepting payments from foreign and domestic officials residing at the Trump International Hotel and other businesses. owned by the former president and his family.
The Supreme Court also ordered that the lower court’s rulings be overturned and ordered the appellate courts in New York and Richmond, Virginia, to dismiss the cases, as Trump is no longer in office.
The result leaves no judicial opinions on the books in a jurisdiction that has rarely been investigated in American history.
The cases relate to cases brought by Maryland and the District of Columbia, and expensive restaurants and hotels in New York and Washington, DC, which “find themselves in the unenviable position of having to compete with businesses owned by the President of the United States.”
The charges sought financial records showing how many state and foreign governments paid the Trump organization to continue eating at Trump properties.
Other cases concerning Trump remain before the Supreme Court, or in lower courts.
Trump tries to block Manhattan District Attorney enforcing a summons for his tax returns. Lower courts weigh congressional subpoenas on Trump’s financial records. And the judges also have Trump’s appeal over a decision banning him from blocking critics on his Twitter account. Like the cases for compensation, Trump’s appeal seems difficult because he does not have his office and also has his Twitter account suspended.