Less than a week after United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the final design of a new $1 coin featuring the face of President Donald Trump, a federal lawsuit filed in Oregon challenging the coin's production was voluntarily dismissed on July 20, 2026.

The gold-plated coin, minted to commemorate the nation's 250th anniversary, includes the presidential seal and "250" etched on one side, and a portrait of Trump with the words "liberty" and "in God we trust" on the other. Bessent described the coin as meant to "honor the enduring legacy of liberty and a lasting symbol of patriotism," and to "celebrate the strength of American values."

Critics argue that featuring a living person on legal tender breaks long-standing norms and violates federal law. Specifically, legislation passed by Congress in 1866, known as the Thayer Amendment, "expressly and unambiguously forbids" the production of a coin featuring "the image of a face of a living man" to prevent "officials from using currency as an instrument of political self-promotion," according to court documents filed by James Rickher, a retired lawyer from Portland, Oregon.

The Thayer Amendment was enacted in reaction to former Treasury Department official Spencer Clark placing himself on banknotes intended to honor William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The statute grants the Treasury Secretary authority to "engrave and print United States currency" and states that "only the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on United States currency and bonds."

However, proponents of the Trump coin contend that the Thayer Amendment applies only to paper currency and point to a separate statute governing coin minting that does not prohibit including the portrait of a living person. The Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 (CCCRA), which authorized redesigning dollar coins with designs emblematic of the United States semiquincentennial to be produced only in 2026, does impose design limits.

Despite these legal questions, Rickher dismissed the lawsuit after being denied a preliminary injunction against the coin's production in late June. Historical precedent includes former President Calvin Coolidge's controversial coin depicting him alongside George Washington for America's 150th anniversary, which was heavily criticized and largely returned and melted, with 859,408 of the 1 million coins minted taken out of circulation.

As production and distribution move forward, it will be up to the American public to decide the coin's success.

Sources