DANGED ORIGINALISTS:

The decision in Washington from U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan adopted a broad definition of the anti-corruption law and could set the stage for Democratic lawmakers to begin seeking information from the Trump Organization. The Justice Department can try to delay or block the process by asking an appeals court to intervene.

In a 48-page opinion, the judge refused the request of the president's legal team to dismiss the case and rejected Trump's narrow definition of emoluments, finding it "unpersuasive and inconsistent." [...]

Led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the Democrats filed their suit last year asking the court to force Trump to stop accepting payments they consider violations of the Constitution's foreign emoluments clause. They say the provision was designed to guard against undue influence by foreign governments by barring any "emolument" -- meaning a gift or payment -- without prior approval from Congress.

Sullivan agreed, writing that dictionaries from the era of the Founding Fathers, as well as legal historians and government practice, point to the broader definition backed by the congressional Democrats that "ensures that the clause fulfills this purpose" of excluding the possibility of corruption and foreign influence. Sullivan described the record as "overwhelming evidence" from "over two hundred years of understanding the scope of the clause to be broad."

"The Court is persuaded that the text and structure of the Clause, together with the other uses of the term in the Constitution, support plaintiffs' definition of 'Emolument' rather than that of the President," the judge wrote.

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