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[Trump Judicial Nonimee] Ed Artau Knew Exactly What He Was Doing
Balls and StikesIn February, a three-judge panel of a Florida state appeals court held that President Donald Trump could sue the Pulitzer Prize Board for allegedly defaming him when it refused to rescind its awards to The New York Times and The Washington Post for their reporting on Russian interference in the 2016 election. That case, Alexander v. Trump, is one of several pending matters in which the President of the United States is trying to weaponize the legal system to punish media outlets that have had the temerity to cover him in ways that made him upset.
Merely allowing Trump’s lawsuit to move forward, though, was not enough for Judge Ed Artau, whom Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appointed to a state appeals court in 2020. Artau joined the majority opinion, but also wrote a separate concurrence in which he repeatedly referred to “debunked” allegations about Russian involvement in the 2016 election, and quoted Trump’s posts on X and Truth Social that described the subject as “FAKE NEWS,” a “phony Witch Hunt,” and a “big hoax.”
From there, Artau boldly called on the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule New York Times v. Sullivan, a 1964 case in which the Court created broad First Amendment protections for journalists who report on the conduct of public officials. Overturning Sullivan is a longtime pet project of the conservative legal movement, as demonstrated by Artau’s dozen-ish citations to opinions in which Justice Clarence Thomas had criticized the holding over the years. Artau made clear where he stands on the question, too: The Sullivan standard, he argued, is inconsistent with the conservative supermajority’s “history and tradition” test for determining the scope of legal rights, and cannot be “constitutionally justified” any longer.
Artau’s advocacy seems to have worked out for him: In May, Trump nominated him to a vacant district court judgeship in Florida, and on Wednesday, he appeared alongside three other Florida nominees for his Senate confirmation hearing. But according to his responses to written questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, when Artau wrote his opinion in Alexander, he may have had reason to suspect that he was under consideration for a promotion already.
Merely allowing Trump’s lawsuit to move forward, though, was not enough for Judge Ed Artau, whom Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appointed to a state appeals court in 2020. Artau joined the majority opinion, but also wrote a separate concurrence in which he repeatedly referred to “debunked” allegations about Russian involvement in the 2016 election, and quoted Trump’s posts on X and Truth Social that described the subject as “FAKE NEWS,” a “phony Witch Hunt,” and a “big hoax.”
From there, Artau boldly called on the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule New York Times v. Sullivan, a 1964 case in which the Court created broad First Amendment protections for journalists who report on the conduct of public officials. Overturning Sullivan is a longtime pet project of the conservative legal movement, as demonstrated by Artau’s dozen-ish citations to opinions in which Justice Clarence Thomas had criticized the holding over the years. Artau made clear where he stands on the question, too: The Sullivan standard, he argued, is inconsistent with the conservative supermajority’s “history and tradition” test for determining the scope of legal rights, and cannot be “constitutionally justified” any longer.
Artau’s advocacy seems to have worked out for him: In May, Trump nominated him to a vacant district court judgeship in Florida, and on Wednesday, he appeared alongside three other Florida nominees for his Senate confirmation hearing. But according to his responses to written questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, when Artau wrote his opinion in Alexander, he may have had reason to suspect that he was under consideration for a promotion already.
Under Trump, what used to be a "conflict of interest" is now just a surefire way to get the president to notice and appreciate you
— Balls & Strikes (@ballsandstrikes.org) 2025-06-26T11:45:20.145Z