An appeals court denied former President Donald Trump‘s request on Tuesday that the court’s full panel of judges reconsider a gag order in the election subversion case against him in Washington, D.C.
The announcement comes after a panel of three Democrat-appointed judges largely rejected Trump’s initial appeal of the gag order in December. Trump then asked for the appellate court’s full bench to rehear his case, but none of its 12 judges showed interest in holding a vote to do so, according to Tuesday’s filing.
Trump, who is in the throes of his 2024 campaign for president, can now bring his appeal to the Supreme Court, but it is unclear if he will do so. The Washington Examiner reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
The gag order, initially imposed last fall by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, prohibits Trump from making public comments about witnesses in the case when those comments relate to court proceedings.
Trump also cannot speak publicly about lawyers in the case, court staff, or family members of the lawyers or staff “if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with” the case.
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The original gag order also banned Trump from speaking about special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the case, but the three-judge panel reversed this aspect of the order, saying Smith is a public representative of the Department of Justice, and Trump is not restricted from openly criticizing the DOJ.
“As a high-ranking government official who exercises ultimate control over the conduct of this prosecution, the Special Counsel is no more entitled to protection from lawful public criticism than is the institution he represents,” the panel wrote in December.