By Jan Wolfe and Jonathan Stempel
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Thursday rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to end a lawsuit alleging his ownership of a hotel in Washington violates anti-corruption provisions of the U.S. Constitution known as the “Emoluments Clauses.”
The decision by the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was a victory for the Democratic attorneys general in Maryland and the District of Columbia, who alleged Trump’s financial interest in the hotel violated a prohibition on the president accepting payments from foreign governments without congressional consent.
The case will now return to a judge in Maryland, who has consistently ruled against Trump on preliminary legal questions, for further proceedings.
Trump opened the Trump International Hotel, on Pennsylvania Avenue just blocks from the White House, shortly before he was elected in November 2016. Unlike past presidents, he has retained ownership of numerous business interests, including the hotel, while serving as president.
Since his election, the hotel has become a favored lodging and event space for some foreign and state officials visiting the U.S. capital.
Trump faces two other pending lawsuits making similar claims about the hotel. One case was brought by a group of more than 200 Democratic Party lawmakers, while the other was brought by a Washington-based advocacy group.
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe in Washington and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Howard Goller)
