President Trump isn't finished with Hillary Clinton. And nearly a decade after the 2016 election, Trump's legal fight over the Russia collusion hoax could be headed toward the Supreme Court.
On Friday, in a Petition for Writ of Certiorari, Trump asked the justices to revive his lawsuit against the former secretary of state and several other prominent political figures, challenging lower-court decisions that not only dismissed his claims but also imposed nearly $1 million in financial penalties on him and his former attorney, Alina Habba.
Trump maintains that his lawsuit was a legitimate attempt to hold his political opponents accountable for their conduct during the 2016 presidential campaign. His attorneys argue that the lower courts went beyond rejecting his claims and improperly punished him and his lawyers for advancing them.
According to Reuters, Friday's filing argues that the deadline for bringing the lawsuit should have been extended because Trump deferred suing during his first term to carry out his constitutional responsibilities as president.
“The court’s intervention is necessary to protect the presidency, and to prevent judicial disagreement from becoming a license to punish its advocates,” the filing states, according to Reuters.
The case began in March 2022, when Trump sued Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey, the Democratic National Committee, and others. His amended complaint alleged a conspiracy to damage his candidacy and presidency by fabricating and promoting allegations that his campaign colluded with Russia.
The allegations in Trump's amended complaint were summarized in the Eleventh Circuit's opinion thusly:
Trump’s amended complaint alleged that, in the lead-up to the 2016 election, Hillary Rodham Clinton, the presumptive presidential nominee for the Democratic Party, conspired with others to “weave a false narrative” about him. Clinton and her allies sought to “discredit, delegitimize and defame” Trump by fabricating a story that he and his campaign colluded with Russia. They enlisted a law firm, Perkins Coie, to assist them, and Perkins Coie partner Marc Elias hired Fusion GPS, a political consulting firm known to “produce false and/or misleading dossiers.” [...]
After they fabricated the Steele Dossier and the Alfa Bank connection, the operatives pushed them to the news media and law enforcement. Fusion fed the collusion story to news media starting in late spring 2016. Soon afterward, Steele gave his Dossier to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which led in part to the initiation of the “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation of the Trump campaign. [...] These investigations were “prolonged and exacerbated” by several “Clinton loyalists” in high positions within the Bureau, including James Comey. In late October, the Clinton campaign shopped the Alfa Bank story to the press and promoted it on social media. After the election, the alleged conspirators continued to spread the collusion story in the media and call for further investigations.
Over the next few years, a “string of federal investigations” refuted the Russian collusion narrative. The report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, appointed to investigate possible collusion, found “no evidence” of it. The Inspector General for the Department of Justice reviewed the Crossfire Hurricane investigation and found multiple “errors [and] omissions” in procedure and concluded that the Bureau lacked probable cause for some of the warrants it secured. [...]
Trump alleges that the conspiracy is still ongoing, as members of the conspiracy continue to allege that he colluded with Russia during the 2016 campaign. Trump alleges that he suffered at least $24 million in defense costs and legal fees because of the conspirators’ actions in addition to loss of business opportunities.
The lawsuit seems reasonable on its face. But U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks dismissed the complaint in September 2022, concluding that its legal arguments were inadequate and that some claims had been brought outside the applicable filing deadlines.
Middlebrooks subsequently imposed $937,989.39 in sanctions, consisting of defendants' legal fees and costs, on Trump, Habba, and Habba's law firm. They were jointly and severally liable for that amount. A separate sanctions order imposed a $50,000 penalty and $16,274.23 in attorney fees on Trump's attorneys in connection with defendant Charles Dolan.
The judge characterized the lawsuit as a "two-hundred-page political manifesto" and concluded that Trump had improperly used the judicial system to pursue political grievances. He subsequently rattled off a stemwinder about Trump daring to hold political actors accountable in the judicial system.
In 2025, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld both the dismissal and the sanctions. The unanimous panel included Judge Andrew Brasher, a Trump appointee, and described numerous arguments in the complaint as "frivolous;" Chief Judge William Pryor wrote the opinion.
“Because Trump’s remaining claims are untimely and otherwise meritless, we affirm the dismissal of the amended complaint with prejudice for the other defendants," Pryor wrote for the panel. "And because Trump and his attorneys committed sanctionable conduct and forfeited their procedural objections, we affirm both sanctions orders.”
Trump is now asking the Supreme Court to review the adverse rulings. Whether the justices will take the case remains to be seen.
The filing followed a deadline extension granted by Justice Clarence Thomas. Trump's attorneys requested the further extension on August 24, and Thomas granted it on August 27, giving them until October 9 to file their petition. The extension concerned the filing schedule, not the merits of the case.
Editor’s Note: Republicans are fighting for election integrity by requiring proper identification to vote. It's common sense, yet Democrats are spreading lies about the impact of such a measure.
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