Judge Merrick Garland. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi / NLJ

A three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit indicated it's unlikely to save an unfair competition lawsuit targeting President Donald Trump and his Washington, D.C., hotel.

Judges Merrick Garland, Thomas Griffith and Stephen Williams were skeptical of arguments brought forward by George Washington University Law School professor Alan Morrison on behalf of the owners of D.C. restaurant Cork Wine Bar, who wants the dismissed case sent back to a local D.C. trial court. The restaurant owners claim Trump and his hotel are violating a local fair competition law, since people may choose the president's properties in order to curry favor with Trump and his administration.

The lawsuit was initially filed in March 2017 in D.C. Superior Court before being moved to federal court at the request of Trump's attorneys at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of the District of Columbia last year dismissed the complaint, finding that Cork Wine Bar had not shown specific enough claims of harm stemming from Trump's hotel.

Morrison on Friday urged the judges to send the case back down to D.C. Superior Court, where he argued it belongs. If not, he said the panel should certify the claims and allow the case to proceed.

He faced a barrage of questions from all three judges over exactly how the case could be sent back to the Superior Court. They noted the case was transferred to the district court under a statute that allows federal officers to face claims against them in federal court.

Morrison argued that because the president failed to divest from his businesses before taking office, and because the suit pertained to Trump's actions only before he was sworn in, the case doesn't touch on Trump's official capacity as president.

"The president has to obey general laws, like postal drivers have to obey speed limits," Morrison said. "This does not infringe on the power of the president."

But the judges weren't buying it. "You don't have a claim if he's not the president of the United States," Griffith said to Morrison.

And Garland questioned why no case similar to the one from Cork Wine Bar had ever been filed before. He noted that a number of lawyers are serving in the Virginia and Maryland state assemblies, as well as elected officials Michael Bloomberg and then-Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper having businesses while they were in office, but that they didn't face legal challenges over those holdings.

Morrison said the Cork Wine Bar case is unique, alleging that promotional materials for the Trump Hotel include the implicit promise that utilizing the property will lead to access to Trump. But the judges then questioned why Trump was being sued in this case at all.

Morgan Lewis partner Michael Kenneally faced only three questions from the panel. He was generally allowed to argue, uninterrupted, that the complaint was properly dismissed and should not be sent down to Superior Court.

Kenneally argued that parts of the initial complaint filed against Trump and the hotel invoked Trump's official capacity as president, and therefore it has to be adjudicated in federal court.

And he pointed to prior cases that he claimed showed the D.C. Circuit could not certify the claims.

Speaking after the arguments, Morrison indicated that he didn't believe the argument went well, as Kenneally was asked far fewer questions. But he said that it could show that Congress may have to step in and pass a federal law addressing the unfair competition claims.

Friday's arguments were held amid a resurgence of claims against the president over his alleged violation of the Constitution's Emoluments Clause. A three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit in early December will rule on whether a lawsuit from more than 200 Democratic members of Congress over the anti-corruption clause can advance.

And days later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit will hear en banc arguments in Maryland and D.C.'s lawsuit that also alleges Trump is violating the emoluments clause.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit also recently revived a lawsuit brought forward by Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington alleging that Trump is violating the clause.

And the D.C. Circuit also heard arguments last month over whether Democrats on the House Oversight Committee could obtain documents from the General Services Administration about Trump's D.C. hotel. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee subpoenaed the GSA last month for documents on the hotel, including the lease.

Eric Trump told The Wall Street Journal last month that the Trump Organization is now weighing whether it should sell off the lease for the Trump property, citing the high level of scrutiny they've faced while his father is in office.

Read more:

DC Judge Puts Cork in Wine Bar's Suit Against Trump

Suit Calls on Trump to Resign, Divest or Shutter DC Hotel

State AGs Look to Add Teeth to Trump Emoluments Claims