9-22-2021
Trump lost — but his lawyers say law does't apply
to him now 'as the 45th President of the United States'.
Legal experts laughed at Donald Trump's latest
court filings in his battle against Twitter.
Reuters legal correspondent Brad Heath reports
"Trump's lawyers told a federal court tonight
that Twitter's forum-selection agreement --
which requires that he sue the company
in California (not Florida, where he sued)
-- does not apply to him 'as the 45th President
of the United States.'"
"Trump's argument seems to be that
his Twitter account was actually operated
on behalf of the government,
inasmuch as he made announcements about policy,"
he explained.
"But if the court accepts the argument that Trump's Twitter
account became a thing operated by and
for the U.S. government, that would seem to
open up the big question of why Trump,
a private citizen, would have standing
to sue over it."
University of Texas Law Prof. Steve Vladeck
doubted the court would accept Trump's argument.
"It would be crazy enough to argue that a sitting President
is somehow exempt from ordinary contract law principles
simply because he's the President.
But here, Trump agreed to Twitter's terms
*before* he was President, and is challenging
them *after.*
So … good luck with that," he posted to Twitter.
He wasn't the only one with criticism.
"Trump has gotten so used to ignoring the law that
he thinks it doesn't apply to him anymore,"
former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti said.
"Any lawyer signing their name to a pleading
making that assertion should be embarrassed."
"The creepies part of this is that it reads present tense,
as though he's asserting that he's (still) the 45th President."
Home 