A federal appeals court halted efforts to use a lawsuit to obtain confidential information about how President Donald Trump may be profiting from his Washington hotel by foreign governments. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo legal Stay issued in lawsuit over Trump hotel

A federal appeals court has halted, for now, efforts to use a federal lawsuit to obtain confidential information about how President Donald Trump may be profiting from use of his luxury Washington hotel by foreign governments.

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order granting a request by the Justice Department to block discovery in connection with a lawsuit Maryland and the District of Columbia filed last year alleging that Trump is violating the Constitution’s ban on official accepting “emoluments” from foreign powers without Congressional approval.


U.S. District Court Judge Peter Messitte previously dismissed DOJ lawyers’ bids to dismiss the case on the grounds that the states lacked legal standing to pursue the challenge. He also rejected arguments that the emoluments clause in question does not apply to business transactions such as rental of hotel rooms and function spaces.

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The 4th Circuit’s one-page order Thursday was not signed by any specific judges and did not contain any rationale for the court’s decision to halt discovery. The appeals court did indicate plans to hear arguments in the case in March.

Lawyers for Maryland and D.C. had asked the appeals court to turn down the stay request. They said they had no immediate plans to use the discovery process to demand records or testimony from Trump, so the requests were unlikely to distract from his presidential duties. Instead, the Maryland and D.C. lawyers said they planned to seek records from Trump businesses and others who may have records of how much foreign governments have spent at the Trump hotel.

A Justice Department spokeswoman welcomed the ruling. “DOJ is pleased,” she said.

Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh and D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine responded by noting the case was still alive.

“Today’s court decision is a procedural one and is not a ruling on the merits of our historic lawsuit against President Trump. We firmly believe that the federal district court got it right when it allowed us to move forward with this action and discovery. We look forward to defending our position before the Court and continuing our efforts to stop President Trump from violating the Constitution by using his office for profit.”