Trump asks Supreme Court to revive 2016 election lawsuit against Hillary Clinton
US President Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to revive a dismissed lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival in the 2016 presidential election, in which he accused her of conspiring with others to rig that contest by linking his campaign to Russia.
The appeal was filed on Friday, October 9, 2026. It follows a federal judge's decision to throw out the case and impose nearly $1 million in sanctions on Mr Trump and one of his lawyers for bringing what the judge described as a "frivolous" lawsuit. A US appeals court upheld both the dismissal and the sanctions.
In the appeal, Mr Trump's lawyers argued that Supreme Court review is needed "to protect the Presidency." They wrote that the lower court decisions reflected "a deeply troubling trend of federal courts using sanctions and disciplinary threats to punish the President and his lawyers for legitimate legal positions that those courts (erroneously) reject."
Mr Trump filed the original suit in 2022, while out of office after losing the 2020 election. The complaint, filed in a federal court in Florida, named Ms Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, the Democratic National Committee and several others. It alleged racketeering and conspiracy to commit injurious falsehood, among other claims. Mr Trump alleged that Ms Clinton and her allies had sought to discredit him during the 2016 campaign with a "false narrative" that he and his campaign had colluded with Russia.
Mr Trump defeated Ms Clinton in 2016, winning the electoral college while losing the national popular vote, and served as President from 2017 to 2021.
US government officials have accused Russia of meddling in the 2016 election. An investigation led by former FBI director Robert Mueller, appointed as special counsel by the Justice Department, documented extensive contacts between members of the Trump campaign and Russian operatives who sought to influence the election in his favour, and set out its findings in a 2019 report. Mr Trump has dismissed the idea of Russian interference as a "hoax."
After losing the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, Mr Trump repeatedly claimed widespread voting fraud in that contest. No court or official review substantiated those claims. He returned to the White House in 2024 after defeating Democrat Kamala Harris, and has continued to repeat them.
US District Judge Donald Middlebrooks dismissed the lawsuit against Ms Clinton, citing numerous inadequacies, including that Mr Trump had waited too long to bring some of the claims. The judge likened the suit to a "two-hundred-page political manifesto outlining his grievances against those that have opposed him."
Judge Middlebrooks later ordered Mr Trump and his lead attorney in the case, Alina Habba, to pay nearly $1 million in fees and costs, imposing the sanctions for bringing a case that he said was intended "to dishonestly advance a political narrative." He also faulted the pair for a "continuing pattern of misuse of the courts," finding that the lawsuit used abusive litigation tactics, contained "knowingly false" factual allegations and asserted "frivolous" legal theories.
The Atlanta-based 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the judge's rulings in 2025, including the sanctions. "Many of Mr Trump's and Ms Habba's legal arguments were indeed frivolous," the appeals court stated.
In Friday's filing, lawyers for Mr Trump and Ms Habba said the time limit for filing the lawsuit should have been extended because he chose to defer suing during his first term in office in order to carry out his constitutional responsibilities as President. "This Court's intervention is necessary to protect the Presidency, and to prevent judicial disagreement from becoming a license to punish its advocates," the filing stated.
The Supreme Court has not indicated whether it will hear the appeal. Mr Trump has a long record of suing adversaries and critics.
