On Eve of Publication, Upstate NY Judge Denies Bid to Block Book on President Donald Trump's Family
Robert Trump failed to meet the burden of demonstrating "imminent, irreparable harm to him," Dutchess County Supreme Court Justice Hal Greenwald found, using bold type to emphasize the final two words.
July 13, 2020 at 08:43 PM
4 minute read
A Dutchess County Supreme Court justice on Monday denied President Donald Trump's brother's attempt to obtain a preliminary injunction against the brothers' niece, Mary Trump, whose book about the president is set for publication Tuesday, and her publisher Simon & Schuster.
Mary Trump signed a confidentiality agreement in connection with the settlement of her grandfather's will in 2001, but the family's circumstances and particularly those of her uncle Donald Trump have changed tremendously since then, Justice Hal Greenwald found.
"It is proclaimed, the enjoining of the publication of the Book is classic 'prior restraint' and cannot be tolerated," Greenwald wrote. "The Book is characterized as 'political speech.'"
Simon & Schuster attorney Elizabeth McNamara, a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine, described the ruling as an important win for Simon & Schuster, Mary Trump and the First Amendment.
Robert Trump's attorney, Charles Harder, had said that the lawsuit had "nothing to do with the First Amendment," arguing that it involved a private dispute about the will settlement. Under the confidentiality provision, Mary Trump said she would not publish information about her relationship with the president, Robert Trump or their sister, former Judge Maryanne Trump Barry of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, without their consent, Harder argued.
"[I]n the vernacular of First year law students, "Con. Law trumps Contracts," Greenwald wrote in Monday's decision.
Greenwald vacated the temporary restraining order he previously granted against Mary Trump; Presiding Justice Alan Scheinkman of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department previously lifted his TRO against Simon & Schuster but upheld it as to Mary Trump and any agent of hers.
Robert Trump failed to meet the burden of demonstrating "imminent, irreparable harm to him," Greenwald found, using bold type to emphasize the final two words.
"Remember the Plaintiff is Robert S. Trump and no one else," Greenwald wrote.
Greenwald also noted that the widespread distribution of the book by the time of his ruling meant that an attempted recall would involve "potential enormous cost and [a] logistical nightmare."
Scheinkman suggested that the court consider whether the confidentiality provision was "temporally and geographically reasonable," Greenwald wrote, observing that the Trumps' family circumstances have changed significantly since the agreement was signed in 2001.
"Remember, at the time the Agreement was agreed upon, the Trump family were New York based real estate developers and not much else," Greenwald wrote. "They were not elected officials or TV personalities. The issues that were the subject of the Agreement were intra family issues, not of worldwide concern, or even national interest."
Had the agreement included limits on time and place, it might be "more readily defensible," Greenwald explained.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner Theodore Boutrous Jr., who is representing Mary Trump, praised the ruling in a statement.
"The court got it right in rejecting the Trump family's effort to squelch Mary Trump's core political speech on important issues of public concern," he said. "The First Amendment forbids prior restraints because they are intolerable infringements on the right to participate in democracy. Tomorrow, the American public will be able to read Mary's important words for themselves."
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