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LAWSUIT FILED OVER PROPOSED TRUMP GOLD COINLen Augsburger passed along this article about an Oregon man who filed a lawsuit to block the production of the Trump commemorative gold coin. Thanks. Here's an excerpt - see the complete article online. -Editor 
When retired lawyer James M. Rickher heard on the news last week that a federal arts commission had approved a 24-karat gold coin bearing President Donald Trump's image, his legal radar went off. "I thought that couldn't be right," said Rickher, 56, who now lives in Portland after a career that included more than two decades working for the federal government. He did a quick search of federal law and found an 1866 statute that bans portraits of living people on U.S. currency. It says: "Only the portrait of a deceased individual" may appear on U.S. currency and securities. "I was incredulous," said Rickher, 56. So on Tuesday, Rickher filed a civil lawsuit on his own behalf in U.S. District Court in Portland against the U.S. Treasury and U.S. Mint to block the production of a Trump commemorative coin planned to mark the nation's 250th anniversary. He urged immediate court action to stop the process before the coin's scheduled distribution on July 4. The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, a seven-person advisory board appointed by Trump, approved the coin's general design on March 19. It shows Trump glaring straight ahead and leaning forward with his fists pressed on a desk. The back of the coin features an eagle with its talons on the wooden frame of the Liberty Bell. The Treasury Department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the suit. The Mint is a bureau of the Treasury. The federal court has assigned the lawsuit to U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut, a Trump appointee. A date hasn't yet been set for a hearing. Rickher, an amateur coin collector, said he spent more than 22 years working for the U.S. Postal Service Inspection Service, first as an inspection agent and later as an attorney. He joined the inspection service in 2000 after working as a public defender in Waukegan, Illinois, north of Chicago. The only previous case of a sitting president appearing on a U.S. coin involved Calvin Coolidge on the 1926 Sesquicentennial half dollar to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. On one side of the coin were side-by-side portraits of Coolidge and George Washington, with the Liberty Bell on the back. Rickher argued in his lawsuit that the Coolidge coin doesn't create a precedent that might allow Trump's image on a coin now. "That 1926 coin drew immediate controversy and was largely withdrawn from circulation. Far from establishing a settled practice that Congress has acquiesced in, the Coolidge episode was widely regarded as an aberration and has not been repeated in the century since," Rickher wrote. The Trump administration has argued that a coin isn't currency or a security. Administration lawyers also have cited federal law they say gives Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent broad authority to authorize the minting of gold coins with "specifications, designs, varieties, quantities, denominations and inscriptions as the secretary, in the secretary's discretion, may prescribe from time to time." We've discussed this before, along with that 1866 statute and the newer laws. With plenty of room for interpretation, I don't see the suit succeeding. The 1866 statute was triggered by a paper money design and doesn't specifically mention coins, plus I'm not sure the plaintiff has standing. We'll see what happens - stay tuned. -Editor
To read the complete article, see:
To Frank Robinson's Rational Pessimist blog article, see:
To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: Subscribe All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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