157-166_BLACKMAN (DO NOT DELETE)
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DEFIANCE AND SURRENDER JOSH BLACKMAN† I. II. III. IV.
V.
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 157 WASHINGTON AND HIS SUCCESSORS DURING THE EARLY REPUBLIC OPENLY ACCEPTED FOREIGN GIFTS WITHOUT SEEKING CONGRESSIONAL CONSENT ............................................ 158 EVIDENCE FROM PRESIDENT JACKSON AND HIS SUCCESSORS DOES NOT RESOLVE THE SCOPE OF THE FOREIGN EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE................................................................... 162 PURPORTED DEFIANCE BY PRESIDENT WASHINGTON AND HIS SUCCESSORS IN THE EARLY REPUBLIC IS MORE PROBATIVE THAN VOLUNTARY SURRENDER BY JACKSON AND HIS SUCCESSORS ................................................................................... 164 CONCLUSION .................................................................................. 166 I.
INTRODUCTION
The Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause provides that “no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”1 If the President is bound by this provision, he cannot accept foreign presents without the “Consent of the Congress.” If the President is not bound by this provision, he can accept foreign presents without violating this clause. The pivotal question to decide if consent is needed, is whether the President †
Associate Professor, South Texas College of Law Houston. This essay is adapted from amicus briefs I have filed on behalf of Seth Barrett Tillman, Lecturer, Maynooth University Department of Law, and the Judicial Education Project in litigation concerning the Foreign Emoluments Clause. https://www.scribd.com/document/351502583/CREW-v-Trump-Brief-for-Scholar-Seth-BarrettTillman-as-Amicus-Curiae-in-Support-of-the-Defendant [https://perma.cc/SS8R-KCMD]; https://www.scribd.com/document/359390871/Blumenthal-v-Trump-Amicus-Brief-of-ScholarSeth-Barrett-Tillman-and-the-Judicial-Education-Project [https://perma.cc/Z4RV-GKVC]; https://www.scribd.com/document/360883294/Amicus-Brief-of-Seth-Barrett-Tillman-and-theJudicial-Education-Project-D-C-and-Maryland-v-Trump [https://perma.cc/UCQ9-K5GB]; https://www.scribd.com/document/368168080/District-of-Columbia-v-Trump-Response-ofAmici-Curiae-Scholar-Seth-Barrett-Tillman-and-JEP [https://perma.cc/UWC3-EQPN]. 1. U.S. CONST. art. I, § 9, cl. 8.
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