The Florida Supreme Court has declined to halt former President Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize Board, allowing the case to move forward in state court. In a brief order issued this week, the court announced it would not take jurisdiction over the dispute and would not entertain any motions for rehearing — effectively removing the last procedural obstacle before the case proceeds to trial.
At the center of the lawsuit is the Pulitzer Board’s 2018 decision to award the prestigious National Reporting Prize to The New York Times and The Washington Post for their coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The award recognized reporting that examined potential ties between Trump’s campaign and Russian operatives — a subject the former president has repeatedly called part of the “Russia collusion hoax.”
Trump’s attorneys argue that the board acted with “actual malice” by refusing to retract the prize even after the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 2019 report, which concluded there was insufficient evidence to establish criminal coordination between Trump’s campaign and the Russian government. The lawsuit, filed in Florida — where Trump resides and at least one board member is based — contends that the Pulitzer Board knowingly upheld reporting it should have recognized as discredited.
The Pulitzer Board had attempted to delay proceedings, asserting that pursuing the case while Trump was president raised constitutional concerns about subjecting a sitting president to state court litigation. Both the trial court and the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal rejected that argument, referencing the 1997 Clinton v. Jones ruling, which held that a sitting president is not immune from civil lawsuits for actions unrelated to official duties.
By refusing to intervene, the Florida Supreme Court upheld those lower court rulings — a procedural win for Trump’s legal team. While the case still faces significant hurdles, the decision clears the way for the trial court to begin hearing arguments over the substance of the defamation claims.
The Pulitzer Board has not publicly commented on the ruling but has consistently defended its 2018 award, stating that the winning reports “deeply and responsibly covered one of the most consequential stories of our time.”
For Trump, the development marks another step in his broader effort to challenge what he sees as biased media coverage of the Russia investigation. The case now heads into its next phase, where both sides will present evidence and arguments that could test the limits of defamation law and press freedom in the political arena.