Blumenthal Introduces the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Enforcement Act

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), the former lead plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to hold former President Donald Trump accountable for violations of the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause, led a group of nine senators in introducing new legislation to restore the force and effect of both the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses. The Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Enforcement Act would codify the Constitution’s preeminent anti-corruption provisions and establish clear mechanisms for reporting and enforcing abuses of the law.

“For centuries, the President of the United States and other high-ranking government officials treated the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses as strict guidance. When we elected a President who thought the rules didn’t apply to him, we found that enforcing the Constitution’s most critical anti-corruption provisions was prohibitively difficult – and we tried. Lengthy procedural hurdles rendered the Constitution’s core anti-corruption protections a dead letter,” Blumenthal said. “So we’ve worked carefully with constitutional law experts – including many of the legal advocates who brought these cases – to create an enforcement mechanism that will actually hold accountable office holders who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of the American people.”

The Framers wrote both the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses into the Constitution to help protect against the President and other federal officials placing their own interests above those of the public.

Early office holders understood emoluments as a broad range of gifts, payments, or other advantages, and they sought the consent of Congress to accept even such items as a gold medal. In the years since, presidents and other government officials have voluntarily sought to comply with the prohibitions on emoluments, including by divesting business interests or holdings. Accordingly, Congress never codified the Emoluments Clauses or created a statutory enforcement mechanism.

Former President Trump broke with prior precedent by refusing to divest from his business and financial interests, despite those interests involving payments from foreign and U.S. government entities, and by rejecting the longstanding interpretation of what constitutes an emolument.

In 2017, Blumenthal and U.S. Representative Jerry Nadler (D-NY) led roughly 200 Members of the Senate and House of Representatives in taking legal action seeking to compel President Donald Trump to comply with the Foreign Emoluments Clause. The Members of Congress were represented in this case by the Constitutional Accountability Center, which has endorsed the legislation being introduced today.

The absence of a statutory enforcement mechanism meant that lawsuits brought by Members of Congress, state attorneys general, businesses, and nonprofits against President Trump faced significant procedural hurdles. Ultimately, these cases were dismissed on standing grounds or mooted once his term expired.

The Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Enforcement Act would restore the original promises of the Emoluments Clauses by codifying their prohibitions and establishing clear mechanisms for reporting and enforcement. Specifically, the bill would:

• Codify constitutional prohibitions on foreign and domestic emoluments by expressly prohibiting federal officers from receiving most foreign emoluments absent congressional consent, and prohibiting the president specifically from accepting domestic emoluments.
• Enhance transparency by requiring federal officers to disclose foreign emoluments, including any business interests that may receive foreign emoluments, and parallel disclosures from the president related to domestic emoluments.
• Authorize enforcement by empowering the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) to establish rules to ensure compliance, and the Office of Special Counsel to investigate any violations of those rules. The legislation would also create a right of action for Congress to sue for violations of the statute and set expedited procedures for such suits, including hearings before three-judge panels reviewable only by the Supreme Court.

The Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Enforcement Act is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).

The bill is endorsed by Protect Democracy, the Brennan Center for Justice, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the Constitutional Accountability Center, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), Public Citizen, and Stand Up America.

“The President and other government officials should be working for the American people, not their own enrichment or the interests of foreign powers. That’s why the Framers wrote critical anti-corruption protections into the Constitution to prevent this, but as we’ve learned they can’t enforce themselves,” said Holly Idelson, Policy Advocate with Protect Democracy. “The Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Enforcement Act would put teeth into these constitutional protections and help ensure government officials put the public interest first.”

“The Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Enforcement Act is necessary to give full effect to this country’s oldest federal anti-corruption measure,” said Daniel Weiner, deputy director of the Election Reform Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law. “The bill sets clear, reasonable standards for public officials, including the president, and ensures that those standards can be vigorously enforced. Congress must pass this critical legislation to protect the principle of public service as a public trust, which is at the heart of American democracy.”

“Americans deserve an ethical government under the rule of law, but under the previous administration, we saw the disastrous consequences of what happens when we fail to hold presidents accountable to the law. By conflating his own personal interests with his official duties, Donald Trump abused his power to enrich himself and his family and created conditions where, every day, major presidential decisions could be made for his financial interest rather than the interests of the American people,” said CREW President Noah Bookbinder. “This legislation would reinforce the importance of the Constitution's original anti-corruption provisions, and we applaud the bill's sponsors for taking a strong stand against abusing high office for personal gain.”

“Constitutional Accountability Center applauds the introduction of this incredibly important legislation that would breathe new life into the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses of the Constitution,” said Constitutional Accountability Center President Elizabeth Wydra. “These provisions were not enshrined in our nation’s charter to collect dust in a cabinet of curiosities. America’s founders, in fact, believed that corruption and foreign influence were among the gravest threats to our nation. To protect our nation against future lawlessness from chief executives and other federal officials, the legislation introduced today would codify the prohibitions outlined in the Constitution’s Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses, while creating clear mechanisms for making sure that emoluments are reported, and the Clauses are fully enforced.”

“The founders were so concerned about preventing foreign influence on our government's officials that they included a ban on foreign emoluments in the Constitution itself, and this legislation will help ensure that our leaders in Washington faithfully honor their constitutional duty to reject foreign emoluments,” said POGO’s Senior Ethics Fellow, Walt Shaub. “It also provides new clarity as to the ban on presidents accepting emoluments from the federal government and states to guard the country against self-dealing and favoritism at the highest level.”

“The Framers of the Constitution were keenly aware of the dangers of foreign governments trying to buy influence over the president and other federal officials by lavishing them with gifts and money. So, they wrote into the Constitution a ban on federal officials accepting such riches from other governments,” said Craig Holman of Public Citizen. “Unfortunately, the Constitution does not clearly define emoluments or specify enforcement procedures. Blumenthal’s legislation would do precisely that.”

“No president should profit from public office, and yet Donald Trump violated the Emoluments Clause to receive millions of dollars in domestic and foreign government payments to his properties. That’s wrong, it’s unconstitutional, and we should make sure it never happens again. Congress has a duty to right this wrong and ensure that no future president can put personal profit ahead of public service,” said Sean Eldridge, President and Founder of Stand Up America. “We’re grateful for Senator Blumenthal’s continued leadership on this issue, and we urge senators on both sides of the aisle to honor their oath to support and defend our Constitution by passing the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Enforcement Act.”

-30-