The case will move forward in a lower court.
The Florida Supreme Court will not decide the Pulitzer Prize Board’s legal wrangle with President Donald Trump, declining to hear arguments the courts should delay the lawsuit until the President leaves office.
“This cause having heretofore been submitted to the Court on jurisdictional briefs and portions of the record deemed necessary to reflect jurisdiction under Article V, Section 3(b), Florida Constitution, and the Court having determined that it should decline to accept jurisdiction, it is ordered that the petition for review is denied,” the court said.
“No motion for rehearing will be entertained by the Court.”
Pulitzer attorneys asked to shelve the dispute at least until Trump leaves office, pointing to a potential conflict should a state court seek to exercise authority over the nation’s chief executive. The case is in Florida because Trump and one of the board members live here.
A state trial Judge and the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal rejected that argument, ruling there was no need to delay adjudication of the case. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that Presidents are not immune from lawsuits while in office.
Trump filed the defamation lawsuit against the Pulitzer board, the group that decides who wins Pulitzer prizes, after it bestowed a joint award in 2018 to The New York Times and The Washington Post for their reporting on alleged Russian interference in Trump’s first election.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller reported in 2019 that his investigation uncovered insufficient evidence of collusion between the Russians and Trump’s campaign, “despite multiple efforts from Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign.” Mueller left unresolved whether Trump committed obstruction of justice.
The Pulitzer board argued that halting the case would avoid constitutional conflicts that could arise from Trump serving as plaintiff in a case that could involve official acts as President. Trump argued the case should carry on. Both courts sided with Trump.
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Jay Waagmeester reporting. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email protected].
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