Messitte denies Trump's motion to dismiss emoluments suit (2018)

On July 25, 2018, a federal judge denied Trump's motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that he had violated the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses of theUnited States Constitution. JudgePeter Messitte ruled that the plaintiffs, the attorneys general for Maryland and the District of Columbia, had "plausibly alleged that the President has been receiving or is potentially able to receive 'emoluments' from foreign, the federal and state governments in violation of the Constitution." Messitte's ruling was the first made by a federal court establishing a definition ofemolument. Messitte definedemolument as any "'profit,' 'gain,' or 'advantage.'" Messitte rejected the definition proffered by the United States Department of Justice, which construed an emolument as "a payment made in connection with a particular employment over and above one's salary." Messitte ordered the parties to the suit to submit a joint recommendation to the court within 21 days indicating the next steps to be taken in the case.^[3][4][5]

The Foreign Emoluments Clause stipulates that "no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." The Domestic Emoluments Clause provides that the president "shall not receive within that Period [i.e., the term of office] any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them."^[6][7]