Trump's $15 Billion NY Times Suit Also Has a Serious Intent

"President Donald Trump — as is his wont when irritated or aggrieved — has deposited a $15 billion defamation lawsuit on the doorsteps of the New York Times, four of its reporters and the publisher of a book two of them wrote about him.

The suit contends that the defendants are essentially proxies for a “legacy media” that has morphed into a “mouthpiece of the Democratic Party,” dedicated to sabotaging his political prospects and with “zero regard for ‘norms’ or ‘institutions.’”

...........

The suit’s more straightforward claims rest on legal sand, as my colleague, Yale Law School professor Stephen Carter, sorts out here. Yet despite parading as a comic book, the suit has serious intentions.

Multibillion-dollar lawsuits tend to have chilling effects on free speech and responsible and necessary reporting, particularly when they’re launched from the White House. Trump’s suit points out that two other media giants, ABC News and CBS News, settled with the president rather than contest lawsuits he filed against them.

Trump’s suit may also be a tool for unwinding legal protections the US media has historically enjoyed. He filed in federal court in Tampa, Florida, where he presumably expects a friendly hearing. Should he ultimately lose there, he would most likely appeal to the Supreme Court. Two of the court’s nine justices have already argued for reconsidering a landmark 1964 ruling, New York Times v. Sullivan, that established burdensome evidentiary standards for public figures filing defamation claims."

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-09-17/trump-s-15-billion-nyt-lawsuit-also-has-a-serious-intent?srnd=homepage-americas