Florida appellate court denies Pulitzer board petition to delay Trump’s defamation suit

A Florida appellate court on Wednesday denied a petition from the Pulitzer Prize Board asking that the underlying legal proceedings in President Donald Trump’s defamation suit against the board members should be paused while he is in office, on presidential immunity grounds. 

The ruling from Judge Robert Rugg, of the Fourth District Court of Appeal for the State of Florida, is another win for Trump in the defamation case. 

He sued the board members for refusing to retract 2018 prizes to The New York Times and The Washington Post staffs for their coverage of the so-called Trump-Russia collusion narrative: that the 2016 Trump presidential campaign colluded with Russia to win the election. 

The board previously conducted a review of the prizes and stood by the awards. Neither news outlet is a defendant in the suit. 

The Pulitzer board defendants have tried to delay the case and keep secret internal deliberations about the awards in the discovery process, Just the News previously reported. 

In January, the board invoked Trump’s presidential immunity arguments in other cases to suggest that it would raise “constitutional concerns” for the president to be subject to legal proceedings in a state court, but the circuit court judge denied the argument, ruling the president could decide on his own whether the proceedings interfere with his presidential obligations. 

The appellate court on Wednesday agreed with the lower court, denied the Pulitzer Board’s petition, clearing the way for the lawsuit to proceed. 

“Although Petitioners claim this litigation will be a distraction to the Presidency, Respondent [Trump] is in the best position to determine if these proceedings would be a diversion and interfere with the obligations of his office, or whether his continued participation is consistent with the performance of his official responsibilities,” Judge Rugg wrote. 

“And, as the trial court correctly pointed out in its order, Respondent also retains the right to either dismiss this case or seek a stay in the future should an assessment of his time commitment change, or if scheduling issues arise due to circumstances occurring during the litigation,” he continued. 

You can read the ruling below:

The board has also attempted to keep its internal deliberations about how it decided to award the two media outlets for their coverage of Trump-Russia collusion, which has since been widely debunked. 

In January, the board had submitted a filing in Florida's Okeechobee County, asking for a protective order to keep discovery materials confidential. The board called its desired order a "garden variety" protection and insisted that it sought to keep the deliberations about the awards private in accordance with a long tradition. 

The ruling on Wednesday opens the door for the discovery of the internal deliberations to proceed.