Can US lawmakers sue for information on Old Post Office lease to Trump company? SCOTUS to decide
Donald Trump, seen here at the 2014 groundbreaking ceremony, leased the Old Post Office in 2013, before entering public office. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, file)
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether individual lawmakers have standing to sue a U.S. agency for information on the lease of the Old Post Office building to a Trump-owned business.
The General Services Administration had leased the Old Post Office in 2013 to a business owned by Donald Trump and his children, according to a decision that upheld standing by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The lease allowed the business to convert the site into a hotel, according to the U.S. government’s cert petition. The agreement specifically barred any elected official from participating in or benefiting from the lease.
After Donald Trump became president in 2016, eight members of the House Oversight Committee sought information on the lease from the General Services Administration.
They sued under Section 2954 of Title 5 of the U.S. Code, which covers congressional requests for information from executive agencies.
The D.C. Circuit held the lawmakers had Article III standing because lawmakers were seeking redress for an informational injury, according to SCOTUSblog coverage of Carnahan v. Maloney.
The U.S. government’s cert petition argues the D.C. Circuit decision “conflicts with this court’s precedents and contradicts historical practice stretching to the beginning of the republic.”
The SCOTUSblog case page is here.
