The Daily Fuckup

New York court officials went back to the Appellate Division on Nov. 23, 2023, and asked it to keep gag-order restrictions in place while Donald Trump’s challenge was pending. The filing concerned the limited gag order issued in Engoron’s civil fraud case, along with a supplemental order entered Nov. 3, after the court had already imposed a narrower restraint on Oct. 3 and then briefly paused enforcement on Nov. 16. ([nycourts.gov](https://www.nycourts.gov/courts/ad1/calendar/Motions_Word/2023/11_Nov/30/PDF/Trump%20v%20Engoron%20%28M-5088%29.pdf))

The motion was not a routine housekeeping request. Court papers said the restrictions were needed because of threats and harassment aimed at Judge Arthur Engoron and his principal law clerk. The filings described communications that were threatening, harassing, disparaging and antisemitic, and tied that wave of abuse to the public attacks around the case. ([nycourts.gov](https://www.nycourts.gov/courts/ad1/calendar/Motions_Word/2023/11_Nov/30/PDF/Trump%20v%20Engoron%20%28M-5088%29.pdf))

Trump has argued that the gag order unlawfully limits his speech. The court’s position is narrower: the order is aimed at statements about court staff, not criticism of the case itself, and the state judiciary said the usual appellate process was the right place to test that restraint. In the Nov. 30 order disposing of the stay motion, the Appellate Division denied relief and vacated interim protection that had been granted on Nov. 16. ([nycourts.gov](https://www.nycourts.gov/courts/ad1/calendar/Motions_Word/2023/11_Nov/30/PDF/Trump%20v%20Engoron%20%28M-5088%29.pdf))

The dispute matters because it shows how fast a courtroom fight can spill outward. Once a litigant repeatedly singles out an individual clerk or judge, the line between hard-edged criticism and targeted pressure gets thinner, and court officials have to decide whether the problem is just ugly speech or a direct risk to people working the case. Here, the record before the appellate court said the harm was already real enough to justify keeping the restrictions alive while the appeal ran its course. ([nycourts.gov](https://www.nycourts.gov/courts/ad1/calendar/Motions_Word/2023/11_Nov/30/PDF/Trump%20v%20Engoron%20%28M-5088%29.pdf))