The U.S. Supreme Court has once again turned down a request to lift the gag order preventing Donald Trump from speaking publicly about people involved in the New York hush-money case. This is the same case where Trump was found guilty of 34 felony charges related to payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
The latest attempt to challenge the gag order came from a podcaster named Joseph Nierman, who is also known online as “Good Lawgic.” Nierman initially asked Justice Sonia Sotomayor to step in, but she rejected his request without any explanation in October. Refusing to give up, he tried again, this time approaching Justice Clarence Thomas. Thomas passed the request to the full Supreme Court, but on Monday, the Court officially denied it—again without providing any comment.
This wasn’t Nierman’s first attempt. Earlier, he had filed a similar request under his company’s name, Good Lawgic LLC, but that, too, was turned down after Justice Samuel Alito considered it.
The gag order in question was issued by Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan during Trump’s criminal trial. The order was pretty clear: Trump couldn’t make public comments about witnesses, prosecutors, jurors, court staff, or their families. But right after the order was issued in March, Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to criticize Judge Merchan, the judge’s daughter, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Over the next couple of days, he continued to make similar remarks.
Bragg’s office quickly responded, asking the court to clarify that the gag order also covered family members of court officials, arguing Trump’s comments were out of line. Trump’s defense pushed back, saying his posts weren’t “contemptuous” and claiming the prosecution was trying to stretch the gag order further.
Judge Merchan wasn’t swayed. By early April, the gag order was expanded to include the families of anyone involved in the trial. This decision came after Trump repeatedly criticized the judge’s daughter, who has worked in political consulting for Democrats.
On May 30, Trump’s trial ended with a jury convicting him of 34 counts of falsifying business records—a major legal blow. Since then, Trump’s legal team has tried multiple times to challenge the gag order. They first took their case to the New York Court of Appeals, which rejected their request in June. Trump’s lawyers then tried the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, but that court also denied their appeal in August. The judges ruled that the gag order was carefully designed to protect court proceedings and the people involved, especially given evidence that Bragg’s staff were still receiving threats.
In September, Trump’s team tried again to get the New York Court of Appeals on their side, but the court dismissed the appeal, saying there wasn’t a major constitutional question at stake.
Throughout all this, Trump and his supporters have argued that the gag order violates his right to free speech under the First Amendment. So far, though, no court has agreed with that position. Even a similar challenge brought by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey was rejected.
Despite Trump being found guilty, Judge Merchan has postponed sentencing because Trump won the 2024 presidential election. Trump’s lawyers are now pushing to have his convictions thrown out entirely, but the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, led by Alvin Bragg, has repeatedly refused to drop the charges or dismiss the case.
For now, the gag order stays in place, and Trump remains under legal restrictions when it comes to speaking about the people connected to the case. With both sides firmly holding their ground, the legal fight isn’t over yet.
