A group of 18 Republican state attorneys general argued Tuesday night that former President Donald Trump’s gag order undermines their citizen’s interest in “hearing from major political candidates” in the coming 2024 election.
The states, led by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia backing Trump’s appeal of the gag order in his 2020 election case. District Judge Tanya Chutkan “overstepped” her role when she imposed the order, the states argue.
“The judge’s approach for the gag order ignores the fact that the government’s case is political to the core—it’s obvious the other side is stopping at nothing to silence Biden’s political opponent,” Morrisey said in a statement. He noted that even the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) — “an organization on the opposite side of the GOP’s political spectrum” — sided with the former president in opposing the order as a threat to free speech.
