The federal judge overseeing former United States President Donald Trump's election subversion case reinstated the gag order issued earlier this month.
Judge Tanya Chutkan also denied the Republican businessman's request to issue a long-term stay of the order. The order bars the former president from publicly targeting court personnel, potential witnesses, or the special counsel's team while his appeal of it played out.
Reinstatement of Donald Trump's Gag Order
The judge's ruling appeared in a brief docket entry on Sunday evening and details of it were not yet available. Judge Chutkan issued the gag order earlier this month after prosecutors raised concerns that Trump could intimidate witnesses or encourage harm against prosecutors through public comments.
The former president quickly appealed the order and the federal judge froze it on Oct. 20 while special counsel Jack Smith's team and Trump's attorneys litigated whether it should be paused indefinitely during the appeals process, as per CNN.
Trump immediately criticized the Sunday ruling and claimed that it infringed on his right to free speech. In his Truth Social platform, the former president said that the "Corrupt Biden Administration" just took away his First Amendment Right to free speech.
The latest development makes Trump face two gag orders that bar him from discussing aspects of his legal cases in public. One from Judge Chutkan and another from a judge overseeing his civil fraud trial in New York.
While both gag orders are limited in scope, they mark a measurable limit on the former president's speech in public. Prosecutors from Smith's office also urged Chutkan last week to reinstate the gag order. They argued that almost immediately after it was paused, Trump resumed publishing allegedly intimidating posts about prosecutors and potential witnesses in the case on social media.
First Amendment Rights
In the past, Trump called Smith a "deranged lunatic" and a "thug," among other insults. Across his several legal cases, the former president has made disparaging comments about prosecutors as well as against the New York state attorney general who brought civil fraud charges against him, according to Yahoo News.
Trump has also pleaded not guilty to charges that he allegedly plotted to interfere unlawfully in the counting of votes and block the congressional certification of his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
John F. Lauro, one of Trump's lawyers, argued with his colleagues that the gag order was not just a violation of the former president's First Amendment rights. He added that it also silenced him during a critical time as he is shoring up his position as the Republican Party's leading presidential candidate in the 2024 race.
On the other hand, federal prosecutors working for Smith argued that while Trump is running for the presidency, he does not have permission to issue public statements threatening or intimidating people involved in the election interference case.
When Chutkan first imposed the gag order against Trump, she sided with the government and acknowledged the former president's First Amendment rights. However, she said that she intended to treat him like any other criminal defendant even if he is running for the presidency, according to the New York Times.
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