Donald Trump Wins Right to Sue Pulitzer Prize Board in Florida

President Donald Trump has won the right to sue the Pulitzer Prize board in Florida.

Why It Matters

The Pulitzer Prize is the most prestigious journalism prize in the U.S. If Trump succeeds in successfully suing the board that awards the prize, it will be a major victory for the president against what he considers liberal media bias.

Newsweek sought email comment from the Pulitzer board and from Trump's attorney on Friday.

What To Know

A federal appeals court ruled that Trump can file a lawsuit in Florida, even though only he and one of the 19 Pulitzer board members live in the state. The ruling affirms a decision by a circuit court that Trump can sue there.

Trump is alleging defamation and conspiracy by the board.

The appeals court found that "the President has met his burden of establishing jurisdiction to proceed with his asserted claims that the non-resident defendants acted with actual malice or reckless disregard for the truth by knowingly conspiring with the Florida resident defendant to defame the President."

The case arose after the board awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for reporting to The Washington Post and The New York Times for their investigations into alleged links between the Russian government and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

Special counsel Robert Mueller's 2019 report into those links found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government but noted several instances in which the Russian government assisted the Trump campaign, such as hacking into Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's email account hours after Trump publicly said that he hoped they did so.

After Trump and other Republicans severely criticized the Pulitzer board for awarding the prize to The New York Times and The Washington Post for what Trump alleged was "fake news," the board released a statement reiterating that it had made the right decision. In doing so, it allegedly repeated several allegations that Trump's legal team claims are libelous.

After the circuit court ruled in Trump's favor, the Pulitzer board took the case to the appeals court, naming board member Elizabeth Alexander as lead plaintiff. The board's website states that Alexander is "an acclaimed poet, author and professor. Her writing explores such subjects as race, gender, politics, art and history.

"Among her acclaimed essays, "'Can You Be BLACK and Look at This?': Reading the Rodney King Video(s)" and "Meditations on 'Mecca': Gwendolyn Brooks and the Responsibilities of the Black Poet" have enlivened debate on the role of art and social justice and addressed issues of race, representation, violence and the vulnerable black body. In 2009, she wrote and delivered her poem 'Praise Song for the Day' for President Barack Obama's first inauguration."

What People Are Saying

Appeals Court Judge Jeffrey Kuntz, writing for the court on Wednesday: "Trump alleged that he sent letters on his personal letterhead to members of the Pulitzer Prize Board. The letters demanded the Pulitzer Prize Board take action to strip The Washington Post and The New York Times of the Pulitzer Prize awarded in 2018 for articles on purported Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and alleged connections to Trump.

"After Trump sent the letters, the Pulitzer Prize Board met remotely and concluded 'no passage or headlines, contentions or assertions in any of the winning submissions were discredited by facts that emerged subsequent to the conferral of the prizes.'

"The circuit court concluded that the [court's] exercise of personal jurisdiction over the eighteen defendants was proper. We agree."

What Happens Next

Unless the Pulitzer board appeals to the Supreme Court, the case will return to a trial judge in Florida and pre-trial motions and disclosure requests will begin.