A state judge on Wednesday dismissed a legal challenge Donald Trump brought against The Des Moines Register and its former pollster, rejecting claims that media coverage of a pre-election survey violated Iowa’s consumer fraud law and ruling that press reporting on political contests is fully protected under the Constitution.
Describing the lawsuit as extraordinary, Iowa District Judge Scott J. Beattie cautioned that letting the case and its "faulty" legal claims move forward in court could have a severe chilling effect that "can discourage others from reporting on and debating public affairs."
Judge Beattie ruled in favor of pollster J. Ann Selzer and the newspaper, affirming that political polling and news coverage detailing survey results constitute constitutionally protected political speech rather than a commercial product governed by state consumer protection statutes.
Wednesday's court ruling came just hours after a separate judge held a hearing but did not issue an immediate decision in a legal challenge over Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House grounds. Trump barred journalists from the three media organizations last Friday from accessing White House grounds, assailing their news coverage as "fake news."
Following the court ruling in Iowa on Wednesday, a spokesperson representing Trump’s legal team confirmed that the president will take his case forward by appealing the dismissal directly to the Iowa Supreme Court.
Trump originally initiated the lawsuit against Selzer, The Des Moines Register and its parent publishing company in December 2024. The lawsuit accused the defendants of fraudulently publishing deceptive polling data to damage his presidential campaign and aid Democratic candidates, asserting that news coverage of public opinion polls does not constitute protected speech under the First Amendment.
The legal battle in Iowa is part of a broader series of lawsuits filed by Trump and his legal advisers against various media organizations accusing them of political bias. These legal actions have repeatedly called into question the legal boundaries of free speech protections for press organizations, though some of those cases have previously resulted in out-of-court settlements.
The free speech advocacy group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression took on Selzer's legal defense. Speaking on Wednesday, Selzer said she was grateful for the ruling, which she noted "reaffirms the fundamental freedom to pursue and publish the truth without political interference."
"Polling is a social science, not clairvoyance, and no responsible pollster can guarantee an election outcome," Selzer added in a written statement.
Attorneys representing Selzer at FIRE and her fellow co-defendants also celebrated the favorable court ruling.
"Today is a victory for the First Amendment — and for the essential role of a free press in American democracy," Polly Grunfeld Sack, chief legal counsel for USA Today Co., said in a statement celebrating the outcome. USA Today Co., formerly known as Gannett, is the parent company that owns The Register.
In his decision dismissing the legal challenge, Beattie wrote that Trump’s lawsuit attempted to "stretch both Iowa statutory and common law beyond their current bounds, turning speech that enjoys the highest category of First Amendment protection into a liability." After hearing the legal arguments, the judge concluded that constitutional protection "is too great and the reach is too far. The case must therefore be dismissed."
Beattie said the lawsuit would still have to be dismissed even if, solely to decide the pending defense motions, he accepted the Trump team’s claims that the poll was deliberately skewed and its results fabricated. "Even with this assumption, each of the three counts still fails," the judge wrote, explaining that the lawsuit failed to meet the legal requirements for fraud or consumer deception.
The disputed survey, conducted by Selzer’s firm in the final days of October and published just days before Election Day 2024, showed then-Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, capturing 47% support among likely Iowa voters to Trump’s 44%. Trump ultimately won Iowa by securing 56% of the nearly 2 million votes cast.
Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and former Iowa state Sen. Brad Zaun had joined Trump as co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Trump, Miller-Meeks and Zaun had alleged in their legal filing that the misleading poll coverage harmed their public reputations, consumed valuable time in the final days of the campaign, and depleted significant campaign funds and resources.
