Trump's legal team invokes First Amendment defense to dismiss 2020 election racketeering charges
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event at his Mar-a-Lago home on November 15, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - Attorneys representing former President Donald Trump have officially requested a judge to dismiss his 2020 election criminal racketeering case in Fulton County, citing First Amendment grounds.
The First Amendment prohibits the government from enacting laws that regulate the establishment of religion, abridge the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, or prevent the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.
In the motion filed on Dec. 18, Trump's lawyers argue that the "core political speech and expressive conduct" outlined in the indictment against the former president are protected from federal government interference, thereby preventing their use at the state level as well. Link to motion
"Like every American, the First Amendment protects President Trump's speech."
The motion contends that "The First Amendment, in affording the broadest protection to political speech and discussion regarding governmental affairs, not only embraces but encourages exactly the kind of behavior under attack in this indictment."
Furthermore, Trump's Georgia lawyers, Steve Sadow and Jennifer Little, assert that Fulton County prosecutors have failed to identify any non-speech or non-advocacy conduct in the allegations against the 45th president.
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The motion references the Supreme Court's unanimous consensus in United States v. Alvarez in 2012, stating that the government cannot penalize someone for "false statements about philosophy, religion, history, the social sciences, the arts, and other matters of public concern."
The decision also concluded that "even a false statement may be deemed to make a valuable contribution to public debate, since it brings about ‘the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.'"
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis charged Trump and 18 others with conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Four co-defendants of Trump have accepted plea deals, while Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty.
Trump previously attempted to employ the First Amendment argument in a federal case charging him with election interference. A federal judge ruled against him, and an appeal has been filed, according to The Hill.
The Georgia indictment is one of four criminal cases the former president currently faces as he campaigns to return to the White House.