Judge Jill Karofsky, a circuit court judge in an election race for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, filed a lawsuit claiming that several television ads attacking her record as a district attorney and a judge were defamatory and violated a Wisconsin criminal statute prohibiting knowingly false statements about a candidate intended to influence voting.
The heart of First Amendment protection is near-absolute immunity for criticism of government, its officials, and candidates for office.
All of the claims that the President asserts start with a huge obstacle in the path to victory: he is complaining about statements made in the context of a political campaign.
Within the last month, Donald Trump became the first sitting president to file suits against media organizations, claiming that the New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN defamed him in opinion pieces about Russian influence on his 2016 and 2020 campaigns.
Last month, the Wisconsin Supreme Court extended for an additional two years its pilot program involving dedicated trial court judicial dockets for large claim business and commercial cases.