Judge’s Block Of Trump’s Wh Press Ban Also Highlights Limits Of Us Legal System

As a businessman, Donald Trump had a long history of using to his advantage a legal system that favors the rich and allows unscrupulous actors to simply wait out individuals or small businesses who can’t afford high-priced attorneys and for whom settling or walking away from a lawsuit is the lesser of two evils.

As a president, who has an entire Department of Justice at his disposal (including an attorney general who has made it clear by word and deed that Trump is his master and not the American people), he has taken this lawfare to another level.

That not only includes filing frivolous defamation lawsuits against news organizations that ultimately concluded it would be in their interest to pay off the president, but also suing his own government to give himself immunity from past tax crimes.

In addition, Trump often takes clearly unconstitutional and illegal actions, some of which are irreversible, while lawsuits challenging them make their way through the courts (and result in costs for litigants who don’t have the luxury of being able to run a $40 trillion deficit and employ tens of thousands of lawyers).

The destruction of the East Wing of the White House comes to mind, as do the illegal deportation of immigrants who were denied their right to due process and the president’s attempt to usurp the states’ authority to administer elections.

And, as a couple of court cases on Wednesday reminded us, even when Trump and the Department of Justice lose, they escape serious sanctions that might otherwise slow down a reckless and lawless administration.

The first is the president’s lawsuit against The Des Moines Register and its pollster J. Ann Selzer, which was dismissed Wednesday. Trump had sued them over polls they had published ahead of the 2024 election that turned out to be wrong.

In rejecting the president’s arguments, State District Court Judge Scott Beattie wrote that the petition “seeks to stretch both Iowa statutory and common law beyond their current bounds, turning speech that enjoys the highest category of First Amendment protection into a liability.”

It’s obviously the right decision, and Trump will certainly appeal, thereby resulting in additional costs and hassle for the defendants.

However, the judge decided against sanctioning the plaintiffs in the case, which not only include Trump but also Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) and former state Sen. Brad Zaun (R), for bringing this outrageous lawsuit.

Then there was the president’s ban of reporters from three news outlets – CNN, MS NOW, and Politico – from the White House because he doesn’t like their coverage.

In issuing a temporary restraining order that compels the White House to reinstate the press passes of these organizations, Trump-appointed District Court Judge Timothy Kelly found that the ban was likely unconstitutional.

He also dismissed the flimsy justification that the ban was somehow related to “national security” and not just the whims of a thin-skinned president who doesn’t like bad press coverage.

However, once again, nobody on the administration’s side is being sanctioned for participating in this anti-American farce.

And that will just enable more lawfare and more illegal actions being undertaken by lawyers beholden to Trump and not the Constitution.

It is apparent that many of the president’s own lawsuits, just as they were when he was in the private sector, are bad-faith efforts meant to bully others who have fewer means to fight back, and that he and this administration will continue to break the law until there is a serious cost to doing so.

And while the courts routinely rule against him on any number of issues (at least those that don’t reach the pro-Trump Supreme Court), they mostly fail to make the president and those doing his bidding pay any personal price.

There have been some exceptions.

Next week, a federal judge in Illinois will hear oral arguments and may rule on whether prosecutors involved in bringing charges against the “Broadview Six” – a group of anti-ICE protesters – will face punishment for their admitted misconduct.

And last week, another judge gave Attorney General Todd Blanche until today to comply with an order to release additional Epstein files. Otherwise, Trump’s former attorney could face civil contempt proceedings.

We believe that this is the right approach. There have to be repercussions for those perverting the law and legal system. Otherwise, they will never stop.

Judge’s Block of Trump’s WH Press Ban Also Highlights Limits of US Legal System originally appeared on WhoWhatWhy