Brazilian Judge Sued By Trump Firm

The media firm of US President Donald Trump has launched an extraordinary legal action in the US, against a judge in a foreign country who has no connection to the United States.

CNN reported that Trump Media and Technology Group, which runs Trump’s preferred social media platform Truth Social, is suing a Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes in an unusual case that involves First Amendment concerns, international law and internal Brazilian politics.

The name of Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes may sound familiar to Silicon UK readers, as he is the judge who famously clashed with close Trump ally Elon Musk, and forced Musk to back down and obey Brazilian laws.

Musk clash

The issue began after Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes began an investigation into X in April 2024 for obstruction of justice, after Elon Musk said he would reactivate accounts on X that the judge had ordered blocked.

Musk denounced the orders as censorship and vowed not to comply with them. Musk also refused to appoint a new legal representative of the company in Brazil as required by law, and he refused to settle any outstanding daily fines within 24 hours.

Musk called for Justice Alexandre de Moraes to “resign or be impeached” and continued to lambast the Brazilian.

But Brazil’s Supreme Court and Justice Alexandre de Moraes did not back down in the face of Musk’s public tirades, and in early September 2024 it shut down access to X in Brazil (one of its largest and most coveted markets).

Following the transfer of 18.35 million reais ($3.3m, £2.5m) from the accounts into the national treasury, Justice de Moraes then lifted freezes that had been imposed on the Brazilian bank accounts belonging to SpaceX subsidiary Starlink and X,

Brazil’s Supreme Court then cleared X to resume service in the country, after Elon Musk backed down and X started complying with court rulings and appointed lawyer Rachel de Oliveira Conceicao as its legal representative in the country.

Brazil then restored X’s access to the Brazilian market.

Trump lawsuit

Now CNN has reported that Trump Media and Technology Group, has joined forces with conservative-leaning social media company Rumble, to sue Alexandre de Moraes in a Florida courtroom.

Trump Media and Rumble reportedly accuse Moraes of violating the US First Amendment for ordering the shutdown or removal of the Rumble social media accounts of an unidentified US-based right-wing Brazilian commentator and supporter of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (a Trump ally) across the entire platform in all countries.

Though Moraes is not an American citizen or based in the United States, the case was filed in Florida because Trump Media and Rumble reportedly want an American judge to declare Moraes’ orders unenforceable in the United States, CNN reported.

“Allowing Justice Moraes to muzzle a vocal user on an American digital outlet would jeopardize our country’s bedrock commitment to open and robust debate,” the complaint states. “Neither extraterritorial dictates nor judicial overreach from abroad can override the freedoms protected by the U.S. Constitution and law.”

“If Justice Moraes’s actions were confined to Brazil, they would be regrettable, and likely not in the province of U.S. Courts,” the complaint states. “But many of Justice Moraes’s actions, including the illegal Gag Orders challenged here, reach directly into the United States to compel action by US companies having no presence in Brazil, and which will have the effect of suppressing speech not just in Brazil, but in the United States and throughout the world.”

Alleged coup, assassination

Meanwhile CNN noted that Trump’s lawsuit comes comes one day after Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro, was charged in connection with an alleged coup plot to overturn the results of the 2022 election and keep his opponent from taking power.

The plot allegedly included plans to assassinate Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who had blocked Bolsonaro’s party request to overturn the 2022 election results.

Bolsonaro has reportedly denied knowledge of the assassination plans, but has accused Moraes of political persecution.