About a week ago, for reasons that were not quite clear, Donald Trump threatened to contact the New York Times. As it turns out, he did not laugh: earlier this week, the president and his lawyers filed a $ 15 billion civil lawsuit (not a spelling error) to the newspaper, claiming that he was slandered and tried to ruin his reputation.
Four days later, the federal judge dismissed the case, but not for merits. Reuters reported:
A federal judge struck Donald Trump’s $ 15 billion for defamation for the New York Times on Friday. US District Judge Steven Merryday said Trump violated the federal procedural rule requiring a brief and simple statement of why he deserves help and that the complaint is not a “public forum for stained and insightful” or “protected platform to rage off the opponent”.
Merryday gave 28 days to lodge a changed complaint.
In other words, the federal judge did not conclude that the case was without any value, at least not yet. Rather, he concluded that the actual application of the court for all purposes was unconscious nonsense. Like a teacher telling the student to rebuild his homework, Merrday actually told Trump’s lawyers that if they want their case to be taken seriously, they would have to submit a less stupid document.
The reaction of the judge was understood. By rejecting all other deliberations – the White House’s unprecedented attack on Free Press, the absurd amount of the dollar, the fact that the newspaper does not do anything wrong with an alarming frequency with which briefs brings civil claims that seem terrible, et al. -The actual legal document provided to the Florida Federal Court was a 85 -page joke.
While reading, I felt a little ashamed of lawyers who were responsible for its production. The litigation (I freely used the word) included random short -related images that seemed to be included for no apparent reason. This was described in the unnecessary range of details in television and movie performances that the president made against his political career, as well as a role in beauty contests.
“In the court’s application, the president’s lawyers wrote, ‘ Zeitgeist Our time. “
As writer Jesse Berney summarized, the claim is “as the 85 -page short truth social report. This is Cheerful”.
It was true, though Merryday was clearly not fun. Judges tend to prioritize serious legal documents rather than independent public relations presentations. In fact, Merryday Smackdown was so cruel that Politico spokesman Kyle Ceney noted that the judge called Trump’s court in “essentially garbage.”
In a court order dripping with contempt, Merryday wrote: “As every lawyer knows (or believes he knows), the complaint is not a public vitruption and investment forum – not a protected platform that has broke away from an opponent. The complaint is not a megaphone in public relations or pushing for a passion for a political rally or functional equivalent.
“The complaint is a mechanism to inform the defendants correctly, directly, soberly and economically – in a professionally restrained way, taking the answer.
He started to submit a shorter and more “dignified” document to lawyers for four weeks. It remains to find out if the president will throw some online tantruoity directed at the lawyer (the appointment of George Hw Bush).
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This article was originally published in msnbc.com