By Andrew Goudsward and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff
WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) – A US appeals court declined on Tuesday to immediately block sanctions against lawyers for Donald Trump who a judge accused of misusing the court system in settling a lawsuit the Republican president filed against the Internal Revenue Service.
The ruling, rejecting a request made by Trump’s lawyers and the Justice Department, was issued by a three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals, with no dissents noted.
The decision for now lets stand an order by Miami-based US District Judge Kathleen Williams concluding that Trump improperly filed a $10 billion lawsuit to extract personal benefits from the US government, including a now-abandoned plan for a nearly $1.8 billion fund for his allies and protections from tax audits.
Williams determined that the agreement was improperly collusive given that Trump, as president, controls the agencies his personal lawyers sued.
The judge’s order referred one of Trump’s personal lawyers to Florida legal disciplinary authorities and barred any of the parties in the case — including Trump, his adult sons and his namesake company — from referring to the agreement as a court settlement or citing any of its terms in future legal proceedings.
In their appeal of the judge’s ruling, Trump’s lawyers and the Justice Department argued that it ran afoul of the US Constitution’s First Amendment protections for free speech.
The 11th Circuit panel concluded that the bar referral for one of Trump’s lawyers, Alejandro Brito, was not a final order that could be appealed. The panel also determined that the judge’s prohibition on Trump and his businesses referring to a settlement was sufficiently limited so as not to infringe on free speech rights.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team reiterated claims that the president’s lawsuit against the IRS was an appropriate means to “hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable.” A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump filed suit this year against the IRS, alleging the tax agency did not do enough to prevent the leak of his tax records during his first term as president. Trump and Justice Department lawyers brokered an agreement in May to dismiss his lawsuit in exchange for the IRS giving immunity to him and his businesses over past tax claims and the department creating a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate his allies who allege prior government mistreatment.
The Justice Department scrapped plans for the fund following opposition from Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
Trump’s lawyers and the Justice Department “did not submit or offer any evidence to explain their litigation conduct or demonstrate that the lawsuit and the settlement were not collusive,” the 11th Circuit panel stated.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Daphne Psaledakis and Will Dunham)
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