Judge dismisses lawsuit against Trump businesses alleging foreign payments violate const.

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A federal judge in Manhattan threw out a lawsuit that alleged President Donald Trump violates the U.S. Constitution when his businesses receive payments from foreign and state governments.

A government watchdog group and business competitors of Mr. Trump who brought the lawsuit failed to show that the president’s alleged violations caused them harm or that their alleged injuries fell within “the zone of interests” the U.S. Constitution’s built-in anticorruption provisions seek to protect, U.S. District Judge George Daniels wrote in a 29-page opinion.

Judge Daniels didn’t delve into the question of whether Mr. Trump’s continued business ties put him on the wrong side of the U.S. Constitution foreign and domestic emoluments clauses, as the plaintiffs alleged.

The foreign clause bars officeholders from accepting “any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever” from foreign governments. The domestic clause prevents the president from receiving compensation from state and federal governments other than a salary set by Congress.

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