LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s strategy for fending off civil cases while in office is taking shape in a New York lawsuit accusing Mr. Trump of defamation and another in Kentucky that alleges he incited supporters to violence during a campaign rally.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers, who say the allegations are meritless and are seeking to dismiss both cases, argued in recent legal filings that state courts lack jurisdiction over the president and that a Supreme Court decision that allowed a federal civil lawsuit to proceed against President Bill Clinton in the 1990s was wrongly decided. They also made a case for exempting the president from giving testimony in depositions, except as a last resort.
The judges in both cases, which are in early phases, could toss out the lawsuits without addressing the constitutional issues. Courts often avoid making broad pronouncements if they can dispense with cases on narrower grounds. But if the cases move forward, they could lead to rare rulings that change the scope of legal protections enjoyed by the president.”
-Joe Palazzolo, “Donald Trump Preps for Battle Against Lawsuits,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 21, 2017 05:30am