Supreme Court shoots down Mike Lindell’s attempt to dodge massive defamation lawsuit
On Monday, NBC News reported that the Supreme Court has denied a petition from MyPillow CEO and election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell to review a lower court ruling that allowed a defamation lawsuit against him to move forward.
"The justices’ decision not to hear the case means a federal judge’s ruling in August 2021 that allowed the lawsuit to move forward remains in place," reported Lawrence Hurley. "Dominion sued Lindell and MyPillow in February 2021, claiming $1.3 billion in 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 vote counts to ensure that Joe Biden defeated Trump," the report continued. "The claims have been widely debunked. In the lawsuit, Dominion argues that Lindell knew his claims were false, while Lindell’s lawyers say he genuinely believes them."
"Lindell had unsuccessfully asked U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols of Washington, D.C., to allow him to appeal two legal questions related to the landmark 1964 Supreme Court defamation ruling in New York Times v. Sullivan, which concluded that there must be evidence of 'actual malice' for a public figure to pursue a defamation claim," said the report.
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Nichols, himself a Trump appointee, "in May threw out Lindell’s own defamation lawsuit against Dominion and Smartmatic, another voting machine company. Dominion and Smartmatic have also filed similar defamation lawsuits against Fox News and other conservative media outlets."
In addition to his false claims about Dominion, Lindell has repeatedly told his followers that the Supreme Court would "reinstate" Trump as president, and even created a "petition" to the high court for the former president's reinstatement that was missing key components like a named plaintiff or attorneys.
Even now, Lindell claims that there is a "four-year statute of limitations" on reinstating Trump to the White House, so "it could happen."