Reading Room Document

The Constitutional Prohibition Against the Acceptance of Gifts from Foreign Potentates

This opinion considers the question of whether American officials receiving gifts from Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Ab Saud (later Crown Prince and King of Saudi Arabia) were prohibited by the Emoluments Clause of the constitution. The opinion concludes that acceptance of gifts without Congressional consent would be unconstitutional and indicated that the accepted gifts should be turned over to the State Department's custody. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at https://justice.gov/olc/page/file/935716/download.

September 23, 1952