Appeals Court Reinstates Trump Gag Order Banning Attacks on Court Staff

Donald Trump will once again be prohibited from speaking about court staff in the ongoing civil trial determining whether he and his company fraudulently misstated the value of their assets, as a New York appeals court upheld the gag order Thursday, reinstating it after it was temporarily paused.

New York state Judge Arthur Engoron imposed a gag order in early October on Trump and other parties in the ongoing civil trial, which prohibited them from speaking publicly about court staff after Trump shared a disparaging post about one of the judge’s law clerks, which shared a photo of her with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and referred to her as his “girlfriend.”

Trump appealed the order and subsequent punishments he had faced under it, and the appeals court temporarily paused the order on November 16 until it could issue a more lasting ruling, spurring the ex-president to almost immediately start attacking the court clerk again on social media.

FORBES

Now, upon reading and filing the papers with respect to the motion, and due deliberation having been had thereon,

It is ordered that the motion is denied; the interim relief granted by order of a Justice of this Court, dated November 16, 2023, is hereby vacated.

ENTERED: November 30, 2023 – Appeals court

The appeals court paused the gag order earlier this month, but on Thursday said it should be restored while the official appeal is pending.

During a break in the trial Thursday morning, Engoron announced the appeals court ruling reinstating the gag order.

“I intend to enforce the gag orders rigorously and vigorously. I want to make sure that counsel informs their clients of the fact that the stay was vacated,” the judge said.

CNN