New York’s highest court on Tuesday denied Donald Trump’s bid to remove a gag order in his Manhattan hush money case — refuting the ex-president’s claim that being muzzled breached his constitutional rights.
The Empire State’s Court of Appeals wrote that it was dismissing Trump’s appeal of Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan’s limited gag order because “no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.”
The order, signed by Merchan in March and expanded in April, stopped Trump from bashing trial witnesses like his ex-fixer Michael Cohen and the porn star Stormy Daniels, individual prosecutors on the case, plus Merchan’s family and the family of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Trump, 78, is still allowed to rip Bragg and Merchan, which he has done repeatedly as he claims the case, in which jurors found him guilty of covering up a pre-2016-election payment to Daniels, is a politically motivated plot against him.
Lawyers for the presumptive GOP 2024 presidential nominee have claimed that the order breached Trump’s First Amendment rights.
The appeals court on Tuesday rejected this argument, but did not elaborate further on how it reached its decision.
Merchan had imposed the order after prosecutors cited Trump’s extensive history of online attacks on witnesses, lawyers and judges involved in the criminal cases against him.
In March 2023, Trump received widespread criticism after posting an image of himself holding a baseball bat next to Bragg’s head — threatening “death and destruction” if he was criminally charged in New York.
“The average observer, must now, after hearing defendant’s recent attacks, draw the conclusion that if they become involved in these proceedings, even tangentially, they should worry not only for themselves, but for their loved ones as well,” Merchan wrote in an April letter.
“Such concerns will undoubtedly interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitutes a direct attack on the rule of law itself,” the judge added.
Merchan slapped Trump with $10,000 in fines and held him criminal contempt twice for violating the gag order during the trial.
Trump’s lawyers have separately asked Merchan to remove the order now that the trial is over.
Prosecutors have pushed back and argued that it should stay in place until at least Trump’s July 11 sentencing hearing, and through any post-sentencing motions submitted by each side.
Trump was convicted on all of the 34 counts of felony falsifying business records that he’d faced. He could face up to four years in prison, or, more likely, either probation or a conditional discharge that could include community service.
He has vowed to appeal the verdict.
Trump’s attorneys and reps for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office did not respond Tuesday to requests for comment.