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“Improper”: Legal analyst says gag order appeal was rejected because “Trump screwed up”

New York appellate court shot down Trump's attempt to get rid of Judge Arthur Engoron's gag order

Staff Reporter

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Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign event at the Hyatt Hotel on December 13, 2023 in Coralville, Iowa. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign event at the Hyatt Hotel on December 13, 2023 in Coralville, Iowa. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

A New York appellate court on Thursday rejected former President Donald Trump's attempt to overturn gag orders in his civil fraud case that prohibited him from attacking the principal law clerk of the presiding state judge, The Messenger reports. In a four-page ruling, the New York Appellate Division, First Judicial Department stated that "the gravity of potential harm is small, given that the Gag Order is narrow, limited to prohibiting solely statements regarding the court’s staff" and noted that Trump's method of making the request "is not the proper vehicle" for challenging gag and contempt orders.

"The appellate court rules that Trump’s petition for a writ of prohibition was improper. Instead, Trump has to move to vacate the contempt orders and then appeal the denial of those motions if he wants to seek appellate relief," MSNBC legal analyst Katie Phang wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "In other words, Trump screwed up." Since the second day of his civil fraud trial, Oct. 3, 2023, Trump has been under a gag order barring him from making statements about court staff after he attacked the judge's principal law clerk on Truth Social.

New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron has since fined Trump twice for violating that order — penalties that amount to $15,000 — and expanded it to include Trump's defense team. "Another court rules that judges can protect the integrity of their proceedings & the safety of people involved in them with a gag order," former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance tweeted of the appellate court's ruling. "And when courts uphold these orders, they are implicitly saying judges can enforce them if they are violated."

By Tatyana Tandanpolie

Tatyana Tandanpolie is a staff reporter at Salon. Born and raised in central Ohio, she moved to New York City in 2018 to pursue degrees in Journalism and Africana Studies at New York University. She is currently based in her home state and has previously written for local Columbus publications, including Columbus Monthly, CityScene Magazine and The Columbus Dispatch.


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