What is the emoluments clause and why should you care?

A simple explanation of this relatively obscure section of the U.S. Constitution that has been in the news because of a $400 million airplane.

The announcement by President Donald Trump that Qatar’s royal family is going to give the president a fancy new jet worth $400 million for him to use as Air Force One has brought an obscure but interesting section of the U.S. Constitution into political conversations again. Some of you may be wondering: What is the emoluments clause and how does it apply?

Photo by David Lusvardi on Unsplash

The “foreign emoluments clause,” found in Article 1, Section 9, Clause 8 of the Constitution, prohibits American office holders from accepting gifts from other nations. According to the National Constitution Center, the rule was written into the Constitution at a time when lavish gifts from royalty or government leaders to foreign emissaries and diplomats was a common part of diplomacy.

The Dutch adopted a rule in the mid-17th century prohibiting their foreign ministers from taking any of these presents because the government feared the gifts would lead to corruption. The writers of the American Constitution adopted the idea and added a few more details.

Most people are not familiar with the word, emoluments, which means a salary, fee, or profit from employment or office, but the statement in the Constitution doesn’t require a law degree to understand.

Article 1, Section 9, Clause 8 states: “No Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, 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.”

So would the gift of a jet from Qatar violate the Constitution?

Trump says the jet wouldn’t be a personal gift to him, but would be a gift to the Department of Defense to be used as Air Force One while he is president. After he leaves office, it would be given to the Trump presidential library foundation, for what we would presume is continued use by Trump.

The president, who will be visiting Qatar soon, told reporters on Monday, “I think it’s a great gesture from Qatar. I appreciate it very much. I would never be one to turn down that kind of offer. I mean, I could be a stupid person [and] say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane’.”

If you want to hear an interesting debate about whether the airplane would actually be free, head on over to Politico. TLDR: Before the president could put the Boeing 747 into service, it would have to be completely retrofitted to meet the security, communications and survivability requirements of Air Force One.

But would it be legal for the president to accept this gift? Government ethics experts have been chiming in all over the internet this week.

Richard Briffault, a Columbia Law School professor who specializes in government ethics, told NPR if the plane goes to Trump's presidential library after he leaves office, "then it's not really a gift to the United States at all."

Briffault says this would be a personal gift and a "pretty textbook case of a violation of the Emoluments Clause." He worries it could lead to Trump feeling beholden to the Qatari government and that it could inspire other countries to try to gain favor with Trump by giving similar gifts.

Jordan Libowitz, vice president in communications for the nonprofit watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told NPR he was especially concerned because the Trump family has personal business in Qatar. The Trump Organization, of which Trump handed over control to his sons, announced in April that it was going to build a luxury resort in Qatar.

How rare is this gift?

Presidents over the years have received many gifts from foreign governments but most have been small or mostly symbolic. According to a Washington Post presidential gift registry, gifts to the president have included baby elephants to Ronald Reagan and Dwight D. Eisenhower, a donkey to George Washington, and “crocodile attack insurance” from Australia to Barack Obama.

All federal employees, including the president, are required to report any gifts valued at more than $480. Larger gifts are turned over to the National Archives, but a president can choose to keep a gift worth more than $480 but they have to pay taxes on that gift.

The Washington Post notes that the desk that most presidents sit at in the oval office was a gift from Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880. The desk was made from timbers of the HMS Resolute, a ship recovered by an American whaler and then sent to England by Congress in friendship. Queen Victoria sent her thanks by giving Hayes a desk made from the ship’s timbers, now known as the Resolute Desk.

The Times of India reports the largest gifts received by a U.S. president include China’s gift to Richard Nixon of two giant pandas valued at $63 million, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia’s gift to Obama of jewelry valued at $1.3 million, another $70,000 in jewelry to First Lady Michelle Obama from the Queen of Brunei, and a $45,000 jewel-covered book of presidential portraits from Vladimir Putin to George W. Bush.

A 2023 congressional report detailed numerous gifts worth a total of $250,000 that Trump and his family failed to report during his previous presidency. The more than 100 foreign gifts included a Saudi dagger valued at up to $24,000, a gold golf club from Japan’s Shinzo Abe valued at $3,755, an $8,500 vase from India, and a silk carpet valued at $12,000 from Uzbekistan.

Do American presidents give presents to other world leaders?

Yes, American presidents or other leaders have given gifts to foreign dignitaries. They’re mostly personal and symbolic. The one I remember best is the time Obama gave Queen Elizabeth an ipod filled with Broadway songs and other music the president thought she might enjoy.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gave his Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov two Idaho potatoes at a meeting in Paris, according to an NPR story on weird gifts between countries.

Trump’s gifts to other world leaders have been a bit more extravagant. He gave Queen Elizabeth a $4,000 Tiffany silver brooch and presented a boxing glove signed by Clint Eastwood to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Is there a punishment for violating the emoluments clause?

One of the few ways the president can be punished for breaking constitutional rules is impeachment. The president can also be sued after they leave office but the Supreme Court has already shown it is very reluctant to hold the president responsible for breaking laws while in office.

In 2021, the Supreme Court dismissed two cases involving emoluments and declined to hear a third.

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