On June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded a longstanding battle involving the former President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats, bringing an end to a case revolving around Trump's International Hotel in Washington, D.C.

The bone of contention was tied to the lease agreement of the federal property that accommodated the hotel. Democrats had raised allegations of Trump gaining an unfairly advantageous deal and sought relevant documentation, a request that was rebuffed by the authorities.

After Trump's tenure as President concluded in January 2021, his organization handed over the leasehold of the property to CGI Merchant Group in May 2022 for an undisclosed sum. Consequently, the hotel was rebranded as the Waldorf Astoria Washington D.C., under the Hilton Worldwide banner.

Although the Supreme Court had decided to consider the case on May 15, the Democratic lawmakers informed the court about their voluntary withdrawal of the lawsuit in the lower courts on June 7.

The independent agency known as the General Services Administration (GSA), entrusted with managing federal property and offering government agencies contracting options, is presently overseen by administrator Robin Carnahan.

Former Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who held the position of chairperson of the U.S. House Oversight Committee until January 3, was the principal respondent in the dispute.

The conflict has its roots in 2017 when Trump took office as President with Republicans ruling both houses of Congress. A group of Democrats from the House Oversight Committee demanded transparency on how Trump had secured rights to transform the historic Old Post Office building into a plush hotel, located just a few blocks from the White House.

Refusal of the Trump administration to comply sparked allegations of corruption, as critics speculated that various entities, including foreign governments, might have booked the hotel to curry favor with the administration.

The crucial legal issue was whether individual Congress members have the right, under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, to bring a lawsuit against an executive agency to demand information under 5 U.S.C. Section 2954.

In 2018, a federal district judge discarded the Democrats' lawsuit, deciding they did not possess the requisite standing to file the case. However, this decision was overturned by a 2-1 vote in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 2020, upholding the lawmakers' right to take legal action.

The Supreme Court's latest decree, communicated through an unattributed order, instructs the D.C. Circuit to dismiss the case, with no justification for its ruling. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson diverged from the ruling, proposing that the writ of certiorari should be dismissed as imprudently granted, as opposed to invalidating the D.C. Circuit's decision.