A retired lawyer saw a news story about Trump putting himself on a US coin. “This can’t be legal,” he thought. So he looked up the law. In 1866, Congress passed a federal statute banning the portraits of living individuals from appearing on U.S. currency. The law was created after a Treasury official put his own face on money during the Civil War. The Trump administration recently approved a 24-karat gold coin featuring the president's face — intended for America's 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026. The U.S. Mint was prepared to begin production immediately. So James Rickher — a retired federal employee and lawyer — spent a weekend writing a legal brief. On March 24, he filed a federal lawsuit to stop it. "It's not just 'Hey, I don't like this,'" Rickher told reporters. "It's against the law." The Trump administration argues that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has the authority to approve coin designs and that commemorative coins follow different rules than regular currency. Rickher disagrees. He says the Secretary's discretion doesn't override the statute. Here's what makes this more interesting — the bipartisan Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, which normally reviews all new coin designs, declined to review this one. They raised concerns that putting a sitting president on currency could break with democratic norms. The ONLY time a living president appeared on a U.S. coin was Calvin Coolidge in 1926. That coin was “congressionally authorized” and remains controversial to this day. A federal judge will now decide. If no injunction is issued, minting begins. Thank you to James for doing his part