The US District Court for the Southern District of Florida must stay President Donald Trump’s unprecedented $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and block Trump and the Department of Justice from entering into an unconstitutional settlement while Trump is in office, according to an amicus brief filed today by CREW and Public Citizen.

In January, Trump sued the IRS and the Treasury Department for $10 billion or more as damages for the disclosure of his and his company’s tax information during his first term. That puts Trump on both sides of the litigation, which creates substantial constitutional and ethics concerns. Trump has said he intends to “work out a settlement with myself” and Attorney General Bondi has made clear that the DOJ “work[s] at the directive of Donald Trump” and “will never stop fighting for him and for our country.”

The amicus brief argues that the court should prevent an unlawful and collusive transfer of taxpayer funds from the US Treasury to Trump’s personal coffers. The lawsuit raises separation of powers concerns and creates an insurmountable conflict of interest for the government’s attorneys.

As the brief explains: “The President’s two hats in this litigation—his personal capacity as plaintiff and his role as chief Executive—make it impossible for attorneys in the Department of Justice (DOJ) to fulfill their ethical duties to zealously represent the interests of the defendant agencies against President Trump’s claims.” Therefore, government lawyers participating in the case would violate Florida attorney ethics rules.

Any settlement in the case would also violate the Constitution’s Domestic Emoluments Clause, which bans the president from receiving any emolument, or payment, from the United States outside of the compensation set by Congress. The Framers of the Constitution were concerned about a president using his office for personal profit—concerns which are directly implicated as Trump demands that his administration award him a massive windfall payment of taxpayer funds to settle legally and factually dubious claims.

The ethical and constitutional issues raised by Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against agencies under his control are simply unavoidable. The court has a duty to protect the public interest and pause this unprecedented case until Trump leaves office and not allow the sitting president to loot the Treasury of billions of taxpayer dollars.

Read the brief here.

Read More in Amicus Briefs