Will Trump get caught in a 'Lawsuit Daze'?
As POTUS fends off allegations of ethics violations, his VP's law student alter ego comes to light
Less than a week after being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump is already in trouble, with a string of possible lawsuits lined up against him.
As reported by the New York Times, one of these suits comes from constitutional scholars and former White House ethics lawyers who allege the new POTUS is violating the US Constitution by allowing his various businesses to accept payments from foreign governments.
The constitution’s emoluments clause forbids US officeholders from accepting gifts from foreign governments without congressional approval.
The suit does not seek any monetary damages. Instead, it asks a federal court to order President Trump to stop taking payments. The president, who vowed to ‘preserve, protect, and defend’ the constitution, said the lawsuit was ‘without merit’.
Meanwhile, US Vice President Mike Pence has also made headlines, albeit for a more bizarre reason.
Comic strips drawn by Pence in the mid-1980s, during his time as a student at Indiana University Law School, have surfaced online.
Originally published in the Hyperallergic blog, Pence’s cartoons, entitled ‘Law School Daze’, depict a struggling student bored by studying constitutional law and torts. Evidence of the latter is seen in strips called ‘Torts Illustrated’ and ‘Kids and Trespa$$’.
Pence has previously expressed his dislike of studying law, telling the Wall Street Journal: ‘No one I know likes law school. It was a bad experience. I wouldn’t wish it on a dog I didn’t like.’
With the law proving an annoyance to his boss, maybe Pence should consider a new strip reflecting the plethora of law suits set to be served on the White House over the next four years.