--- title: Emoluments: Maryland and D.C. To Sue President Trump description: The Maryland and D.C. attorneys general are bringing a lawsuit against President Trump, claiming he's violated the Emoluments Clause. canonical: https://time.com/4814546/emoluments-maryland-dc-president-trump-sue-corruption/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-12T14:16:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:06:10.125Z article:section: Politics og:title: Maryland and D.C. to Sue President Trump Over Emoluments Clause og:description: The attorneys general say they will seek a copy of his tax returns. og:url: https://time.com/4814546/emoluments-maryland-dc-president-trump-sue-corruption/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3eef304002379d58/6988d129ab6d772f0e6ae80d/trump-tweet.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Trump Holds News Conference With President Of Romania Klaus Iohannis og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Maryland and D.C. to Sue President Trump Over Emoluments Clause twitter:description: The attorneys general say they will seek a copy of his tax returns. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3eef304002379d58/6988d129ab6d772f0e6ae80d/trump-tweet.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Maryland and D.C. to Sue President Trump Over Emoluments Clause  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jun 12, 2017 2:16 PM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump holds a joint news conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in the Rose Garden at the White House June 9, 2017 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Donald Trump holds a joint news conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in the Rose Garden at the White House June 9, 2017 in Washington, DC.Chip Somodevilla--Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jun 12, 2017 2:16 PM UTC The Maryland and District of Columbia attorneys general are bringing a lawsuit against President Trump, claiming he’s violated the [Emoluments Clause](http://time.com/4579979/emoluments-clause-constitution-donald-trump/?iid=sr-link1) in the Constitution. The suit, being filed Monday by D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine and Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, says Trump has engaged in “unprecedented constitutional violations,” [the Washington _Post_ reports](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-and-maryland-to-sue-president-trump-alleging-breach-of-constitutional-oath/2017/06/11/0059e1f0-4f19-11e7-91eb-9611861a988f%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.27273803a35e). (The _Post_ received a copy of the lawsuit.) It says the fact that Trump retains ownership of his company while serving as president has made him “deeply enmeshed with a legion of foreign and domestic government actors.” **Read TIME’s Cover Story:** [Donald Trump’s Suite of Power](http://time.com/donald-trumps-suite-of-power/?xid=homepage&pcd=hp-magmod) This, the suit argues, violates the emoluments clause in the Constitution, which says, “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.” (An emolument, simply stated, is compensation for services or from an office or employment.) “Fundamental to a President’s fidelity to \[faithfully execute his oath of office\] is the Constitution’s demand that the President … disentangle his private finances from those of domestic and foreign powers,” the suit reads. “Never before has a President acted with such disregard for this constitutional prescription.” The attorneys general say they will request Trump’s [personal tax returns ](http://time.com/4701747/donald-trump-rachel-maddow-taxes/?iid=sr-link2)in the discovery process, which he’s so far refused to disclose. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4814546/emoluments-maryland-dc-president-trump-sue-corruption/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4814546/emoluments-maryland-dc-president-trump-sue-corruption/"},"headline":"Maryland and D.C. to Sue President Trump Over Emoluments Clause","datePublished":"2017-06-12T14:16:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:06:10.125Z","description":"The Maryland and D.C. attorneys general are bringing a lawsuit against President Trump, claiming he's violated the Emoluments Clause.","url":"https://time.com/4814546/emoluments-maryland-dc-president-trump-sue-corruption/","keywords":["Courts","White House","Donald Trump","Constitution","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3eef304002379d58/6988d129ab6d772f0e6ae80d/trump-tweet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3eef304002379d58/6988d129ab6d772f0e6ae80d/trump-tweet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Holds News Conference With President Of Romania Klaus Iohannis","caption":"President Trump Holds News Conference With President Of Romania Klaus Iohannis","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla--Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/courts/","name":"Courts"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4814546/emoluments-maryland-dc-president-trump-sue-corruption/","name":"Maryland and D.C. to Sue President Trump Over Emoluments Clause"}}]}] ```