President Donald Trump scored a significant legal victory Wednesday, May 28, when a Florida appeals court rejected the Pulitzer Prize Board’s attempt to pause his defamation lawsuit against the organization. The Fourth District Court of Appeal denied the board’s motion to temporarily halt proceedings until Trump completes his current presidential term.
The lawsuit, filed in December 2022, centers on Trump’s challenge to the 2018 Pulitzer Prizes awarded to The New York Times and The Washington Post for their reporting on alleged connections between his 2016 campaign and Russia. Trump argues the coverage was false and defamatory, demanding the board revoke the awards.
In a seven-page ruling, the appeals court dismissed the board’s constitutional arguments for delaying the case. The board had claimed that allowing the litigation to proceed while Trump serves as president would raise constitutional concerns under the Supremacy Clause and Take Care Clause. However, the court ruled that “such privileges are afforded to the President alone, not to his litigation adversaries.”
Judge Mark W. Klingensmith wrote that Trump, by virtue of his exceptional position, is uniquely equipped to determine how to use his time and assess whether the lawsuit will divert him from official business. The court noted that Trump voluntarily initiated the litigation and has not sought to invoke presidential immunity to halt the proceedings.
The board attempted to draw parallels to other cases where Trump invoked presidential immunity as a defendant, including a lawsuit brought by former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos. The appeals court rejected this comparison, noting that Trump is the plaintiff in the current case, not the defendant. The judges stated the situations were not substantially similar enough to prevent Trump from objecting to the stay request.
Trump celebrated the decision on Truth Social the next morning, calling it a major victory in his fight against what he characterized as fake reporting about Russian interference. He indicated the news organizations would have to return their awards, which he claimed were given for false reporting that cannot be allowed in America.
The Pulitzer Prize Board has maintained its defense of the 2018 awards. In a statement released months before Trump’s lawsuit, the board conducted a review and determined that no passages, headlines, contentions or assertions in the winning submissions were discredited by facts that emerged after the prizes were awarded.
The board’s spokesman said that Trump’s lawsuit represents an attempt to intimidate the press and drive a political narrative. The organization indicated it takes seriously its mission to honor excellence in reporting and will continue defending journalism and First Amendment rights.
The disputed coverage included articles such as “The Fake Americans Russia Created to Influence the Election” from The New York Times and “Trump Revealed Highly Classified Information to Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador” from The Washington Post. This reporting led to federal investigations, including Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, which ultimately found no conclusive evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
Trump filed the lawsuit in Okeechobee County, Florida, approximately 60 miles northwest of his Palm Beach residence. The case names as defendants the board members and administrative staff who were in place when the 2018 prizes were awarded.
The ruling represents another setback for the Pulitzer Board in this litigation. The appeals court previously rejected the board’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds in February. District Judge Robert Pegg, who is presiding over the case, also denied the board’s request to shield internal communications regarding the award and rejected a similar delay request in March.
The decision allows Trump’s defamation case to proceed to discovery, potentially requiring the Pulitzer Board and affiliated organizations to turn over internal communications related to the controversial award. Trump’s legal team has indicated plans to seek depositions and documents that could reveal whether the board ignored doubts about the accuracy of the honored reporting.
The board argued in a statement that allowing the case to proceed facilitates Trump’s use of state courts as both a sword and shield, enabling him to seek retribution against anyone while claiming immunity when convenient. The organization indicated it is evaluating the next steps in its defense.
This legal victory comes as Trump has pursued multiple defamation cases against media organizations. ABC News settled with Trump in December over an interview where George Stephanopoulos called him a rapist. CBS News parent Paramount is reportedly in settlement discussions over a lawsuit regarding a deceptively edited interview with Kamala Harris.
The court emphasized that when a president chooses to initiate litigation, courts must assume the officeholder has already weighed the burdens on their official duties. The judges concluded that whether pursuing the litigation serves Trump’s best interests or aligns with his presidential responsibilities falls exclusively within his judgment.
