Tag: Susman Godfrey

On Friday, I wrote about l’affaire Susman Godfrey. Here, I revise and extend—I hope not too much—my remarks. 

If you have a bet-your-company problem, and if that problem can be addressed through litigation, and if you have the money, then, in all likelihood, you will give serious consideration to the Susman Godfrey firm—and you’ll probably hire them. Such was the situation in which Dominion Voting Systems found itself, when it retained the Susman firm to sue Fox News for defamation over lies told about its voting machines in the 2020 election. As you probably know, the outcome was that Fox settled for $787.5 million. 

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

The Susman firm also represents Dominion in its suit against One America News Network, its related suit against Patrick Byrne, former CEO of Overstock.com, and its suit against Newsmax. In the latter case, on April 9 the district judge ruled that Newsmax made false and defamatory statements about Dominion and its voting machines; the “actual malice” issue remains to be decided, presumably by a jury, after detailed inquiry into the state of mind of the honchos at Newsmax who decided to publish the lies. The smart money is predicting that Newsmax, just like Fox News, is going to have to pay a ton of money. 

Also on Wednesday, April 9, a Couple of Hours After the Newsmax Defamation Decision

By pure coincidence, Mango Mussolini decided this would be a good day to denounce Susman Godfrey as a “rogue law firm,” chiefly for defending the results of the 2020 election and for being too zealous in representing the interests of Dominion Voting. Along with the denouncing, he also imposed the customary draconian penalties on the firm, its lawyers, and its clients. 

To provide some context for these developments, check out this article from the Washington Post: Trump’s order seeks to force states to buy costly new voting machines: The edict [issued on March 25] could hurl elections into tumult, though lawsuits challenging the order mean it probably won’t be implemented anytime soon.

The logical inference: Trump plans to steal the 2026 election, just like he tried to steal the 2020 election. His plan is to issue an impractical and unenforceable order that the states should throw away their existing voting machines and buy new ones. This he did last month. Then, when his side loses bigly in 2026, he’ll lie about the Dominion voting machines to excuse his loss. 

But, to advance the lie, he needs help from liars with big megaphones. Like Fox. Like Newsmax.

But even if the liars are perfectly OK with lying, they may be chastened by the fear of big losses in defamation suits.

Hence, in President Lizard Brain’s reasoning, the need to screw the lawyers who are successfully pursuing defamation claims.

Two Days Later, Friday, April 11

Two days later, the Susman firm, represented by Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, filed a 65-page complaint laying out ten constitutional violations committed by Orange Jesus.

For some reason—I assume it’s because of all the nonsense that has happened this week—the press has by and large missed the filing of this complaint. (I just read an article in the New York Times that should have mentioned it, but did not.)

This Coming Week

It is to be expected that, like Perkins Coie, like Jenner & Block, and like WilmerHale, the Susman firm will ask for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, a district judge will instantly agree, and the judge will issue yet another opinion strongly suggesting that Donald J. Trump should take a long walk off a short pier. 

I have three questions.

1. Who the Hell is Giving Trump Legal Advice About the Law Firms, and are They Actively Trying to Sabotage Trump’s Legal Position?

The wording of the Trumpian “fact sheet” and executive order—especially when considered together with the timing of the two events on April 9—is tantamount to Trump’s having prefaced his remarks with “THIS EXECUTIVE ORDER IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND ENTIRELY LEGALLY INDEFENSIBLE.”

2. Does Trump Think for a New York Second that the Supreme Court is Going to Buy This Garbage?

And, if not, what game does he think he’s playing?

Is he just delusional? Well, I don’t know. But he acts delusional. And he speaks in a delusional way. 

And if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.

3. How is the Susman Firm Going to Play its Hand?

Susman Godfrey can win its case without relitigating the 2020 election, without talking much about its client Dominion Voting, and without going into exactly which lies Fox and Newsmax told and why they told them.

That said, Trump has gone out of its way to make his quarrel with Susman Godfrey all about 2020. 

In 2020, Team Trump brought 62 lawsuits to challenge the election. The result? Team Trump lost every single one. Their record was zero to 62. 

Now Trump declares that he has the authority to execute a business for being on the winning side in some of those 62 cases. 

Might the plaintiff want to call Trump to testify at a deposition, or a trial, as to the factual basis for his contention that he actually won in 2020? (The case law is that presidents do not enjoy absolute immunity from being called to testify.) 

And if Trump does testify against the Susman firm, what are the chances that he will perjure himself?