15 GOP-led states support Trump’s appeal of $355M in NY court fines

Former U.S President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he leaves court for the day at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 18, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Brendan McDermid/Pool-Getty Images)

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has joined a coalition of 15 GOP-led states supporting former President Donald Trump in his appeal of court fines ordered in a New York real estate case against him.

New York state court Judge Arthur Engoron in February ordered Trump to pay $355 million, plus interest, in a civil trial finding his company and executives, including his two eldest sons, conspired to deceive banks and insurers by inflating his wealth on financial statements. The judge also barred Trump from serving as an executive at any New York company, including the Trump Organization, for three years and imposed a two-year ban on Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.

Trump appealed the fine to New York’s intermediate appellate court.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office authored a court brief supporting the appeal, which 14 other states joined.

“Our brief isn’t about Donald Trump, it’s about upholding the rule of law and the Constitution,” Wilson said in a statement after Friday’s filing.

Besides Iowa, other states in the coalition are Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia.

The attorneys general argue the fine is excessive, violating the Eighth Amendment and a similar clause in the Fourteenth Amendment prohibiting states from imposing a “grossly excessive” punishment.

“New York’s excessive fine on President Trump is unlike anything we have seen before, and it is wildly disproportionate to the allegations New York’s politically motivated Democrat attorney general brought against him,” Bird said in a news release. “If it can happen to President Trump, it can happen to anyone. We must uphold the Constitution that protects the rights of not just President Trump, but every American, and reverse the unjust fine that is being imposed on him.”

Residents of the states that joined the brief conduct business in New York, primarily New York City, wrote Joseph Spate, assistant deputy solicitor general in Wilson’s office.

“And they need confidence that their customary business dealings in New York will not subject them to devastating fines,” he wrote, arguing that fear of heavy financial penalties will drive companies away from doing business in New York.

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