Donald Trump lost his attempt to seek financial damages from the writer who accuses him of raping her years ago in a New York City department store.
Judge Lewis Kaplan said there was good reason to believe that the request was a delaying tactic by the former president to further stall the lawsuit.
Kaplan wrote that the request smacks of bad faith by Trump, who waited 14 months to ask for permission to respond to the countersuit.
The judge said that if the case was delayed further, it would prejudice her right to have her claims tried in court.
Even if Trump were allowed to file a countersuit, he would not be able to prove his claims in court.
The record shows that the case has been delayed to an extent that could have been avoided.
The 2nd Circuit is considering an appeal by Trump and the U.S. Justice Department of an earlier ruling by Kaplan.
If the Justice Department wins the argument that Trump was not a private citizen when he made the defamatory claims, it would end her case.
The U.S. government can invoke its protection from lawsuits on the basis of immunity.
In November of last year, Trump was sued for defamation by a woman who accused him of sexual assault. She wrote in a New York magazine article that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room after they bumped into each other in a store.
The Court said in its opinion today that Donald Trump was a characterization.
The case could have been tried one way or the other.
While we are disappointed with the court's decision today, we eagerly look forward to litigating this action and proving the claims of the person who brought them.
The Manhattan Supreme Court is a trial-level court in the New York state judicial system.
While Trump was in office, the Justice Department waited for 10 months before trying to have the case transferred to a federal court.
The move came a month after a state judge rejected Trump's claim that he is immune from a private lawsuit, setting the stage for him to be required to submit a DNA sample that could be compared to a stain on her dress.
The Justice Department was barred from having Trump removed as the defendants.
The President of the United States is not an employee of the government according to Kaplan.
Even if he were an employee, President Trump would not have been allowed to make defamatory statements about her.
The Justice Department filed an appeal of Kaplan's ruling under the Trump administration, but the Biden administration persisted in their appeal.
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