Appeals Court Sides with Trump In 3-0 Decision As Democrats Lose Emoluments Case

And here's more on the breaking story, from The Hill:

A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., threw out a lawsuit accusing President Trump of illegally profiting off his private businesses while in office, ruling that the Democratic lawmakers who brought the suit lack legal standing.

A three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday did not rule on whether the president was violating the Constitution by profiting off foreign governments' spending at his hotels. The judges unanimously said in a brief 12-page decision that the dispute centering around the Constitution's emoluments clauses has no place in the court system.

"The Members can, and likely will, continue to use their weighty voices to make their case to the American people, their colleagues in the Congress and the President himself, all of whom are free to engage that argument as they see fit," the judges wrote. "But we will not—indeed we cannot—participate in this debate."

Two of the three judges were appointed by Republican presidents and the other by a Democrat.

The decision is a major win for Trump, who unlike every recent president, has refused to relinquish control over his business assets by placing them in a blind trust. And it comes just two days after the president's acquittal in his three-week long impeachment trial over accusations that he had sought help from the Ukrainian government in investigating former Vice President Joe Biden, a potential rival in the 2020 presidential race.

Trump learned of the decision just before speaking with reporters at the White House Friday morning as he prepared to leave for a speech in North Carolina.

"It just came out a few minutes ago, so I'll be reading it on the helicopter but it was a total win," he said. "It was another phony case and we won it three to nothing. We won it unanimously."

As reported by CNN:

The ruling is a major triumph for the President, who's intensely sought to keep his business affairs in private, just days after the Republican-held Senate voted to acquit him on impeachment charges for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The case's dismissal effectively kneecaps one of several attempts Democrats have made to dig up more information about Trump's business holdings.

Before Friday's ruling the lawsuit was paused just as Democrats began subpoenaing the Trump Organization.

This emoluments case was one of three ongoing constitutional challenges to Trump and his business, alleging that the President is violating the anti-corruption emoluments clause. Two other emoluments cases attack Trump for his alleged competitive advantage at the Trump-branded real estate empire. Those cases are still moving through the court system.

The three-judge panel -- Judges Karen Henderson, David Tatel and Thomas Griffith -- was in unanimous agreement, saying the Democratic lawmakers lack the standing to challenge the President, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled.

You'd think the Democrats would give it a rest at this point.

Nope!

NBC reports:

One of the plaintiffs in the case, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said he was “disappointed" in the outcome, but "a technical dismissal in no way condones President Trump’s continuing violations of the foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution.”

Nadler and another plaintiff, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in a joint statement that they are evaluating their legal options.

Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law professor and constitutional expert, tweeted after the ruling, “Individual members of the House and Senate lack standing to sue Trump to stop his Foreign Emoluments Clause violations — but the House could sue for institutional injury. It should now do so.”