The state of Maryland and the District of Columbia, US will ask the full 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday to reconsider a ruling by a three-judge panel that directed a federal judge in Maryland to dismiss the lawsuit that accuses President Donald Trump of illegally profiting off the presidency through his luxury Washington hotel.
The two jurisdictions allege that this has caused violation of the emoluments clause.
Trump's lawyers have argued that the emoluments clause only bars compensation made in connection with services provided in his official capacity or in "an employment-type relationship" with a foreign or domestic government.
The hotel, that is just blocks from the White House, the Old Post Office was a historic site, which reopened in 2016 as Trump International Hotel. It quickly became a hot spot for lobbyists and foreign officials.
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and District Attorney General Karl Racine have argued that hotels in their jurisdictions suffer competitive injury because officials hoping to curry favour with the president are more likely to stay at his hotel.
When a three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit ruled in July that the two jurisdictions lack standing to pursue their claims, the attorneys appealed for a rehearing and the court later granted them one before all 15 judges on the court.
Trump's lawyers have said that Frosh and Racine both Democrats lack authority to sue the president in his official capacity.
