Judge Issues Temporary Restraining Order in Lawsuit to Block Publication of Trump Niece's Book
A Dutchess County Supreme Court justice on Tuesday granted a temporary restraining order blocking President Donald Trump's niece Mary Trump and her publisher Simon & Schuster from publishing, printing or distributing any portion of her upcoming book about the president.
June 30, 2020 at 01:41 PM
4 minute read
A Dutchess County Supreme Court justice on Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order blocking President Donald Trump's niece Mary Trump and her publisher Simon & Schuster from publishing, printing or distributing any portion of her upcoming book about the president's family relationships.
Justice Hal Greenwald set deadlines for each side to submit their arguments in the next 10 days, ahead of the scheduled publication of Mary Trump's book, "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man," on July 28.
Within hours of the order, attorneys for Mary Trump and Simon & Schuster filed notice that they were appealing to the Supreme Court Appellate Division, Second Department.
The president's brother Robert Trump sued his niece June 26, arguing that a confidentiality agreement associated with the will of Mary Trump's grandfather Fred Trump prevents her from publishing anything 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.
In a letter to Greenwald on June 26, Robert Trump's attorney Charles Harder argued that publishing lead times meant that bookstores and reviewers could receive copies of Mary Trump's book "any day now." He drew an analogy to the recent case of former national security adviser John Bolton, who was sued by the attorneys in the civil division of the U.S. Department of Justice days before his book's planned release.
"Plaintiff is seeking to avoid the situation presented in the recent case of United States v. Bolton … where the Court held that even though the government had established that Mr. Bolton violated his contractual obligations in publishing his book, no injunction could issue because while the book had not yet been released, it had been distributed and numerous people had access to copies of the book," Harder wrote.
Simon & Schuster is the publisher of both Bolton's book and Mary Trump's, Harder noted.
In their own letters to Greenwald on June 26, Mary Trump's attorney Anne Champion of Gibson Dunn and Simon & Schuster's attorney Elizabeth McNamara of Davis Wright Tremaine argued that Harder's TRO application infringed on Mary Trump's First Amendment rights.
In a statement Tuesday, Theodore Boutrous Jr., also a Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner and a member of Mary Trump's legal team, echoed that argument.
"The trial court's temporary restraining order is only temporary but it still is a prior restraint on core political speech that flatly violates the First Amendment … This book, which addresses matters of great public concern and importance about a sitting president in an election year, should not be suppressed even for one day," he said.
In a statement Tuesday, Harder said Robert Trump is pleased with Greenwald's order.
"The actions of Mary Trump and Simon & Schuster are truly reprehensible," Harder said. "We look forward to vigorously litigating this case, and will seek the maximum remedies available by law for the enormous damages caused by Mary Trump's breach of contract and Simon & Schuster's intentional interference with that contract. Short of corrective action to immediately cease their egregious conduct, we will pursue this case to the very end."
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