Presidents Can’t Sue Their Way Out of Criticism
The government has no business trying to regulate speech about itself — and that includes Donald Trump.
Criticism comes with the job.
Photographer: Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg
There’s a certain irony in the fact that President Donald Trump announced his silly $15 billion defamation suit against the New York Times scant days after a federal appellate court dismissed a similar claim against Fox News. That lawsuit was filed by Nina Jankowicz, the former head of the Biden administration’s short-lived Disinformation Governance Board.
The lawsuits suffer from a common defect: They seek to turn hyperbolic criticism of a government official into grounds for civil damages. The court was right in tossing Jankowicz’s suit; Trump’s should meet a similar fate — and quickly. It should be exceptionally difficult for those who serve in government to sue their critics; for presidents, it should be hardest of all.