Supreme Court rejects Trump ally Mike Lindell's appeal in 2020 election lawsuit

The Supreme Court connected Monday rejected MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's bid to fend off a defamation lawsuit the voting instrumentality institution Dominion Voting Systems filed implicit his far-fetched claims astir the 2020 statesmanlike election.

The justices' determination not to perceive the lawsuit means a national judge's ruling in August 2021 that allowed the suit to determination guardant remains successful place.

Lindell, a salient TV salesman for the pillows his institution makes, is an outspoken protagonist of erstwhile President Donald Trump.

Dominion sued Lindell and MyPillow successful February 2021, claiming $1.3 cardinal successful damages and alleging that Lindell purposely pushed the "big lie" that Trump won the 2020 election. Lindell repeatedly echoed baseless claims that Dominion's machines manipulated ballot counts to guarantee that Joe Biden defeated Trump. The claims person been wide debunked. In the lawsuit, Dominion argues that Lindell knew his claims were false, portion Lindell's lawyers accidental helium genuinely believes them.

"Lindell asserts today, arsenic helium did passim the applicable period, that his statements regarding Dominion, its voting machines, and the integrity of the tabulation were, and proceed to be, valid, accurate, and true," Lindell's lawyers wrote successful tribunal papers.

Lindell had unsuccessfully asked U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols of Washington, D.C., to let him to entreaty 2 ineligible questions related to the landmark 1964 Supreme Court defamation ruling successful New York Times v. Sullivan, which concluded that determination indispensable beryllium grounds of "actual malice" for a nationalist fig to prosecute a defamation claim. Lindell argues that Dominion is simply a nationalist fig due to the fact that it performs a authorities relation successful elections and that truthful the "actual malice" modular applies. His lawyers reason that due to the fact that Lindell genuinely believes successful his claims, determination was nary "actual malice" and that truthful the suit should beryllium dismissed.

Dominion besides sued Trump allies Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani for defamation. Nichols allowed those claims to determination forward, arsenic well, but Powell and Giuliani were not progressive successful Lindell's Supreme Court appeal.

In a abstracted case, Nichols successful May threw retired Lindell's ain defamation suit against Dominion and Smartmatic, different voting instrumentality company. Dominion and Smartmatic person besides filed akin defamation lawsuits against Fox News and different blimpish media outlets.

Two blimpish justices — Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch — person suggested that the 1964 defamation precedent, which makes it harder for nationalist figures to bring defamation claims, should beryllium overturned.