"A Settlement with Myself": Can the President Sue the United States Government in an Article III Court?
Abstract
When President Trump sued the IRS this year, seeking $10 billion in damages for alleged privacy violations, no lawyer appeared to defend the United States in 109 days of litigation, and the case ended in a privately announced "settlement" creating a $1.776 billion fund and perpetual audit immunity for the President. The district court held the suit was never a case or controversy at all. This Essay defends and generalizes that holding, arguing that when one litigant controls both sides of a lawsuit, there is no adverse party and therefore no Article III case or controversy. Although Windsor and Chadha permit jurisdiction despite the government's agreement with its adversary on the merits, they do not permit litigation control of both sides by a single party. United States v. Nixon permits intra-executive litigation in an Article III court only where the opposing officer possesses legally guaranteed independence. The Essay argues that the Trump Administration's own unitaryexecutive theory, executive orders, personnel decisions, and conduct in the litigation foreclosed such independence. It concludes that a President may litigate a personal claim against the government only if the government's defense is insulated from presidential control-and may not use an Article III court to confer judicial legitimacy on a settlement negotiated, in substance, with himself.
Repository Citation
Matthew I. Hall,
"A Settlement with Myself": Can the President Sue the United States Government in an Article III Court?
, 175 U. Pa. L. Rev. Online
(2026),
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/fac_artchop/1808
Previously posted on SSRN.