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Trump just sued the IRS (and the Treasury Department) for $10 billion because a (private) contractor thereof leaked Trump's tax returns in the past. But such a lawsuit seems to me the mother of all conflicts of interest from a sitting US president, since he names the current heads of these departments, who'll likely be like "sure boss, let's settle, here's the check, don't fire me".

I'm curious if there is precedent for this kind of lawsuit from a sitting US president against the US, and what were the outcomes.

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There's no precedent for a sitting US President suing their own administration, but there's also no explicit law against it (because who could even imagine). Even the reimbursement demand from the DOJ, which Trump filed before returning to office, is seen by some as a violation of the emoluments clause:

Congressional Democrats have accused Trump of violating the Constitution’s emoluments clause — which bars presidents from profiting off their office — with the proposed restitution. Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, announced Tuesday evening that he would launch an investigation into the $230 million demand.

This particular lawsuit is noteworthy not only because the President is suing the administration that he leads now, but also because the claim refers to the period during which the President was responsible for the Administration. He literally sues the US Government for failures that occurred during his own tenure as the chief executive.

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  • Comments have been moved to chat; please do not continue the discussion here. Before posting a comment below this one, please review the purposes of comments. Comments that do not request clarification or suggest improvements usually belong as an answer, on Law Meta, or in Law Chat. Comments continuing discussion may be removed. Commented 14 hours ago

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