From the New York Post: A Florida federal judge ordered President Trump’s $15 billion defamation and libel lawsuit against the New York Times struck from the record Friday, calling the length of the complaint “improper and impermissible.”
In a scathing, four-page order, Tampa US District Judge Steven D. Merryday gave Trump 28 days to file an amended complaint that “must not exceed” 40 pages in length.
“Alleging only two simple counts of defamation, the complaint consumes eighty-five pages,” wrote the judge, appointed to the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush.
“Even assuming that each allegation in the complaint is true … — a complaint remains an improper and impermissible place for the tedious and burdensome aggregation of prospective evidence, for the rehearsal of tendentious arguments, or for the protracted recitation and explanation of legal authority putatively supporting the pleader’s claim for relief.”
President Trump’s lawyers had filed the lawsuit against the New York Times and several of its reporters for defamation on Monday, alleging untruthful reporting about him prior to the 2024 election.
However, Judge Merryday complained the lawsuit was too long and declared, “A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally or the functional equivalent of the Hyde Park Speakers’ Corner.”
In response to the lawsuit on Monday, the New York Times released a statement claiming the suit “has no merit”, “lacks any legitimate legal claims” and is an “attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting.”
“The New York times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics,” the liberal paper fumed.
President Trump has filed a lawsuit against The New York Times. Read our statement and reporting on the suit below. pic.twitter.com/PZLRNBpexi
— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) September 16, 2025
ABOUT THIS JUDGE: Steven Merryday, 74, is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. He was appointed by president George H.W. Bush in September 1991, and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in February 1992.
Merryday did side with conservatives during the Covid pandemic. In one ruling, he ruled against Biden’s CDC rules for cruise ships. In 2022, he blocked the Navy from removing a commander of a warship just because he refused to get the Covid vaccine.
BREAKING: A federal judge just sumamrily struck Trump’s complaint against the New York Times, calling it, essentially, garbage.
Must be rewritten within 28 days.https://t.co/Ca48rtRLjp pic.twitter.com/WplnudqnA4
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) September 19, 2025
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