We’ve had a string of high-profile defamation cases in our district of late. Many had connections to President Trump. We had Trump v. ABC News and George Stephanopoulos (ultimately settled by the defendants for $15 M). And Dershowitz v. CNN over CNN’s coverage of Dershowitz’s Trump-related comments (dismissed by Judge Singhal with a cert petition now pending). Now we have Trump v. the Wall Street Journal. Or had. Judge Gayles dismissed Trump’s lawsuit yesterday. The lawsuit was over the journal’s story claiming that Trump sent Jeffrey Epstein a birthday message inside the outline of a nude woman with Mr. Trump's signature underneath. Trump dismissed the story as "FAKE" and filed a $20 billion lawsuit against the paper and others.
But the case doesn’t appear over just set. A rep for the President commented that the President "will follow Judge Gayles's ruling and guidance to refile this powerhouse lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and all of the other Defendants."
Looks like our district will have yet another opportunity to apply the defamation standard set out in NY Times v. Sullivan. The bigger question is whether the long-standing precedent will soon go from endangered to extinct.
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