A federal court has come to a decision that could end the two-year legal battle over foreign payments to the Trump International Hotel in D.C.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit Wednesday dismissed the lawsuit that the the attorneys general of D.C. and Maryland filed in June 2017, the Washington Post reports.
The lawsuit alleged President Donald Trump violated the U.S. Constitution's emoluments clause by accepting payments from foreign and state governments at the hotel while failing to divest himself from his business.
The attorneys general received a series of favorable rulings from the U.S. District Court, which allowed the case to proceed and approved legal discovery. But the Court of Appeals ruled that the attorneys general lacked legal standing to bring the lawsuit.
The dismissal was decided on unanimously by a three-judge panel. Trump's attorney called the dismissal a "complete victory," the Post reported, while the attorneys general said they may appeal for a rehearing by the full 4th Circuit court and said the case could reach the Supreme Court.
The 263-room hotel opened in September 2016, a $200M restoration of the Old Post Office Building on Pennsylvania Avenue. The hotel is at the center of a separate lawsuit from House Democrats, who filed suit in late 2017 alleging the General Services Administration withheld documents related to the hotel.
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