Noah Feldman, Columnist

Trump Lawsuit Against John Bolton Is Beyond Frivolous

The government is resorting to bizarre legal ploys to stop publication of the former official’s book.

June 17, 2020 at 6:00 PM UTC

Updated on

June 17, 2020 at 8:38 PM UTC

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

Soon-to-be bestselling author John Bolton
Photographer: Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images

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President Donald Trump’s administration is suing former national security adviser John Bolton in a last-ditch effort to block publication of his forthcoming memoir, which contains damaging allegations about Trump’s attempts to get China’s President Xi to help him win re-election. The Trump administration apparently understands that directly asking the court to bar publication would fail. So instead, government lawyers have invented a series of extraordinarily weak legal claims based on the nondisclosure agreement that all national security officials must sign.

The case should be dismissed posthaste by the U.S. District Court. It is a frivolous lawsuit, in lawyer’s jargon. Worse, it attempts an end-run around clearly established First Amendment law. If I were Bolton’s lawyer, I would seek not merely dismissal but sanctions against the government and legal fees.