Conservative Legal Theory On Immigration May Haunt Trump

A legal approach known as “competitor standing” has been popular with conservative hard-liners who use it to enforce stricter immigration policies. Now, some legal scholars are suggesting that interpretation may be used to open the door for a legal challenge to President-elect Donald Trump’s ongoing business ties with foreign governments. Under the theory, competitors to Trump’s U.S. hotels or some of his Trump-branded properties overseas could claim their businesses are being hurt as foreign nations look to win Trump’s favor. Liberals and some conservative critics of Trump’s business entanglements say such a suit would be a way to enforce the Constitution’s “foreign emolument” clause, which bars U.S. officials from accepting gifts or benefits from foreign governments without permission from Congress. However, the challenges facing such a suit would be daunting. “I’m still personally hopeful the president elect will avert any future competitor standing stories by doing a true blind trust,” former Obama administration ethics lawyer Norm Eison said. “If he doesn’t, it’s going to be litigation boom times in competitor standing and people will have all kinds of motivations to bring those cases.”