Attorney Scott Pilutik wrestles with the news of the day, from a lawyerly perspective…
I mentioned the other day how the Queens County Surrogate Court is the wrong place to ask that a book not be published. Today Robert Trump evidently found the right place — the Dutchess County Supreme Court — to get his injunction against Mary Trump’s forthcoming tell-all about the Trump family.
Here’s the judge’s ruling granting an order to show cause that temporarily holds up the book publication.
Had Judge Hal B. Greenwald ever watched The Big Lebowski he’d know that “the Supreme Court has roundly rejected prior restraint,” as Walter Sobchak accurately noted. Judge Greenwald’s three-page order contains no legal analysis and appears blithely unaware of the existence of prior restraint. He merely calendars the case for July 10. I imagine before then Simon & Schuster and Mary Trump will be able to find an appellate court only too happy to light Judge Greenwald up.
UPDATE: In fact, both Mary Trump and Simon & Schuster already have entered their notices of appeal, blasting the judge’s ruling as an “unconstitutional prior restraint” under the First Amendment and New York State constitution.
