President Donald Trump has filed another lawsuit against The New York Times, drawing warnings from legal experts about free speech and First Amendment implications — even as they mock the filing itself.
Trump filed the $15 billion defamation and libel lawsuit against the paper of record, which he called “one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the History of our Country, becoming a virtual ‘mouthpiece’ for the Radical Left Democrat Party.”
At issue, he said on his Truth Social website, is their endorsement of then-Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, which Trump called “the single largest illegal Campaign contribution, EVER.”
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“The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!” he declared.
According to Politico, the lawsuit “alleges the reporting had harmed Trump’s ‘unique brand’ and business interests, including his media company’s stock value, causing ‘reputational injury’ worth ‘billions of dollars.'”
Bloomberg News reported that “The New York Times said in a statement that the lawsuit ‘has no merit’ and ‘is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting’.”
“It lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting,” a Times spokesperson said on Tuesday. “The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics.”
Critics and legal experts have mocked the legal filing.
“Is it possible for a legal pleading to be psychotic?” asked attorney George Conway, a well-known Trump critic. “I think we have an answer.”
Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, a professor of law and MSNBC/NBC News legal analyst, wrote: “I’d like to see the judge dismiss and grant rule 11 sanctions. That’s not a stretch here. We do, after all, have a 1st Amendment and a constitutional republic, not a monarchy/dictatorship.”
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Rule 11 sanctions refer to penalties a court may impose on attorneys for filing frivolous lawsuits.
“The 85-page lawsuit reads like a pro-Trump op-ed, with page after page of gushing praise for the president,” wrote CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter. “The suit demands $15 billion in damages, which exceeds the entire market cap of The New York Times Company.”
But Stelter also called Trump’s lawsuit “the latest example of what First Amendment experts have described as a presidential strategy to silence critical news coverage and curb free speech by filing legally dubious suits.”
Others also warned of the First Amendment implications.
Former Biden White House senior advisor Neera Tanden, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, remarked, “So much for free speech.”
Attorney Ron Filipkowski, the editor-in-chief for MeidasTouch News, urged, “No Settlements! Needs to be the rally cry for every press outlet, university, business, law firm, nonprofit, and other entity that is targeted by the regime. Settlements sell us all out.”
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