Fearing Litigation, ABA Self-Censors Report On Trump

In a decision that drew sharp criticism from former members of its media-law committee, the ABA has decided not to publish a report that details some of Donald Trump’s litigation history, calling him a “libel bully” and a loser. The decision was made even though ABA leadership, including the general counsel, apparently did not dispute the report’s conclusions. The organization’s deputy executive director defended the decision, saying the problem was not the report’s main substance, but rather unnecessary inflammatory language. That would have included the title and the lead, which surfaced nonetheless when another group, the Media Law Resources Center, published the piece intact, According to the main author of the study, Susan E. Seager, a former journalist, Yale Law School graduate and First Amendment lawyer, the controversial title was in fact the main point of the report, its major conclusion, and was carefully documented.