As in the second term of Donald Trump as the president of the country, you must have seen his name getting involved in a bunch of lawsuits, but this one is a little different. It sure is a lawsuit lodged by him, but because there weren’t basic court rules followed, that’s why a judge straight up rejected this. Judge Nixes Trump Lawsuit from being filed. To get to more details of this case, just keep on reading because the details are the super interesting part, like what went down and where things stand now.
What Happened With The $15 Billion Lawsuit?
Trump sued The New York Times in September 2025. The defamation complaint was for $15 billion. And just in case you didn’t know it yet, well, this lawsuit was first brought up in the federal court in Tampa, Florida.
Talking about the very core of this lawsuit, well, it is about the allegation that the newspaper defamed the plaintiff by publishing false information about him, thus damaging his reputation. So yes, at the center of this lawsuit is the defamation case, and that’s what it is all about as of now.
Going into more specifics, see, once the defendant had filed an answer to the complaint on September 19, 2025, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday threw the complaint out as it was then. The judge stated that it failed to satisfy the basic court rule that requires a “short and plain statement” of the claim. So, to put it in the simplest words possible, all in all, the court found the paper was too long and not clear enough.
At the end, well, it is true that Trump was allowed 28 days to make changes and refile. To this day, there has been no settlement, no damages, no verdict, no NOTHING.
What About The Hush Money Conviction?
This particular situation has its roots in an event that took place in March 2023, when 34 felony counts were alleged against Trump, accusing him of falsifying business records. The prosecution maintained that in order to hide a hush money payment made just before the 2016 election, business records were changed.
A month later, the jury decided, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the Defendant was guilty of all the 34 charges brought against him. The court gave him what is called an “unconditional discharge” – no jail time was given and no fine was levied, but the record still shows the conviction.
On the other hand, on July 1, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that a former president could not be criminally charged for official actions taken while in office. Trump’s lawyers stated that some pieces of evidence in his case came from his official duties and thus requested to have the case moved to a federal court.
Later, in September 2025, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein rejected the motion filing by the defense, saying that it was not timely. The following month, however, a federal appeals court ordered that the Judge should consider whether any part of the evidence concerned official acts.
By the end of 2025, the conviction has not been overturned, and the legal battle still continues.
Why Did The DOJ Sue New York Over Immigration?
For those who know little to nothing about the Protect Our Courts Act, well, it was one of the measures enacted by New York State in 2020, which, you know, kinda restricts the activities of federal immigration agents by not allowing them to arrest individuals in state courthouses without a warrant signed by a judge.
Later down the line, we saw how the U.S. Department of Justice came up with the lawsuit against the state, mainly and clearly stating that New York was obstructing the work of federal immigration agents.
