Overview
- The appeals panel, which issued its order Tuesday, denied both panel and en banc rehearing and noted no active judge, including six Trump appointees on the court, requested a vote.
- The denial keeps in place the Florida district court’s dismissal and the nearly $1 million sanction against Trump and his then-lawyer Alina Habba.
- The appeals court had already upheld that sanction in November 2025, echoing a lower-court finding that the suit was frivolous and filed in bad faith.
- Trump’s 2022 suit accused Hillary Clinton, James Comey, the Democratic National Committee, Perkins Coie, and others of a conspiracy to fabricate 2016 Russia-collusion claims.
- With rehearing closed off, Trump’s remaining option is to petition the U.S. Supreme Court, which takes cases at its discretion and grants review in a small fraction of petitions.