The Case(s) Against Trump

Merely because of her proximity to the White House, Ivanka Trump is engaged in unfair business practices.

This, at least, is the accusation Modern Appealing Clothing is lodging against the elder first daughter in a recently filed lawsuit. The San Francisco-based clothing retailer alleges that Ivanka’s company has an unfair advantage over its competition due to the apparent use of her father’s position to engage in “piggy-backing promotion” off of the presidency, such as by using official appearances to display her fashion lines—or, most memorably, receiving a free plug from Kellyanne Conway on national television. These de facto promotions, MAC argues, will unfairly drive competition toward Ivanka’s brand and away from competitors, such as MAC itself. This, MAC continues, gives the company “standing”—that is, a claim to a concrete financial injury, and, therefore, the right to sue.

Modern Appealing Clothing’s lawsuit against Ivanka Trump is the fourth legal challenge so far contesting the relationship between the first family and its business empire. The other three focus on the president, and seek to drive a wedge between the Trump administration and the Trump Organization—whether by forcing Donald Trump to divest or by driving him out of office altogether. But the need to establish standing could significantly limit these plaintiffs in terms of what they’re able to accomplish, raising an important question: If a lawsuit against the president is unlikely to succeed, what, exactly, are the plaintiffs achieving?

After all, . As Trump himself has remarked on multiple occasions, the president is immune from the laws regarding conflicts of interest for other members of the executive branch. This has led many of his critics to turn But even making that argument might prove difficult: “To establish standing, you have to establish an injury in fact that’s concrete and particular to you,” says Andrew Hessick, a law professor at the University of North Carolina; “Annoyance at the government not obeying the law is not enough of an injury.”