The US Supreme Court dismissed lawsuits that accused former President Trump of illegally profiting from his four years in the White House as “moot” on Monday.
”The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit with instructions to dismiss the case as moot,” the court wrote in an order released Monday.
The attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia sued over whether Trump benefited financially from the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, while the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sued over the Trump International Hotel in Manhattan.
Maryland and DC accused Trump of profiting from his hotel whenever foreign dignitaries of people seeking to curry favor with his administration stayed at the property.
The business came at a detriment to other hotels and restaurants in the area.
The decision by the court was expected once Trump left office, because the constitutional provision that prohibits members of the federal government from receiving gifts – or emoluments – from foreign states would no longer apply.
Trump’s legal team had challenged the lower court rulings to the Supreme Court.