A federal judge in West Palm Beach is being asked to decide whether President Donald Trump is violating the U.S. Constitution by making money from renting rooms in his hotels or other buildings to federal agencies.

In the lawsuit assigned to U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg on Wednesday, Broward County construction lawyer Patrick Goggins claims a little-known provision in the Constitution prohibits Trump from making extra money from the federal government through the real estate holdings of his far-flung Trump Organization.

Under Article 2 of the Constitution, the president’s compensation "shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them."

"I would argue that payment from any state or federal governmental entity to the Trump Organization is prohibited under Article 2," Goggins, of Hollywood, said Thursday in a series of emails to The Palm Beach Post.

Under the clause, a president can make $400,000 annually, plus free housing and money for various expenses, and that’s it, Goggins argues.

His lawsuit differs from one filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. in January, Goggins said. While it also involves an "emoluments clause," the Washington lawsuit focuses on another section of the Constitution that prohibits federal officials from taking gifts and money from foreign governments.

In that lawsuit, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics claims Trump is violating Article 1, a clause that bars federal officeholders from accepting "any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign state."

Filed by top ethics lawyers from the administrations of presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, that lawsuit challenges Trump’s ability to rake in money from foreign visitors who stay at his hotels, including the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. which has become a favorite spot for visiting foreign dignitaries.

In the case of that hotel, there is an overlap in the two lawsuits. Trump’s real estate company spent $200 million renovating the Old Post Office building to turn it into a hotel. It is still owned by the federal government. Trump now leases it from the General Services Administration.

"The payments," Goggins said, are another violation of Article 2.

After the Washington lawsuit was filed over the other emoluments clause, Trump blasted it as "totally without merit," according to The Washington Post.

Fort Lauderdale attorney Bruce Rogow, a constitutional law expert, also scoffed at the "emoluments clause" lawsuits.

"They’re an exercise in futility," said Rogow, who represents Trump in an appeal of a lawsuit the president lost involving his National Golf Club Jupiter. "They’re interesting and fun to watch." But, he predicted, they are going nowhere.

The biggest challenge for Goggins will be persuading Rosenberg he has what is known as standing to file the lawsuit. Goggins will have to prove he has been uniquely harmed by Trump’s actions. Rogow predicted that Rosenberg will rule that Goggins doesn’t have standing and toss the lawsuit before she even starts taking evidence on whether Trump is violating Article 2.

Some legal scholars also have argued that the Washington watchdog group will have difficulty proving it has been harmed by Trump’s business dealings.

Goggins acknowledged that proving he has standing will be challenging. "We’ll address that when it comes up," he said.

While enacted in the early days of the republic to prevent corruption, neither of the emoluments clauses has been litigated, Rogow said. The provision that prohibits gifts from foreign governments was added after Benjamin Franklin was given a snuffbox decorated with 408 diamonds from the King of France and John Jay accepted a horse from the King of Spain, according to The Washington Post.

Goggins said he filed the lawsuit in Broward County Circuit Court this month after Trump announced plans to make deep cuts to the National Institutes of Health. Without elaborating, he said the cuts hit home because the federal agency is "an institution that my father dedicated his professional life (to)."

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami, which will represent Trump in the lawsuit, asked that the case be moved to federal court.