Daxton R. Stewart | Lightnews

Chip Stewart

@medialawprof.bsky.social

3.6K followers 750 following 4.7K posts

Doctor of Journalism. Law-talking guy. Chaotic good. Fan of bad sports teams. I have friends everywhere. https://schieffercollege.tcu.edu/faculty_staff/daxton-chip-stewart/

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Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · Jan 23

I have to admit, I’ve been getting down about the liars and the dirty dirty cheats of the world

Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · 11h

Jen is right, do this y’all

Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · 11h

Oh! Don't forget the cheat code for amazing mashed potatoes is to warm up your milk/cream/melted butter so that it blends well with your hot potatoes and mash them altogether. 🥰

Reposted by Daxton R. Stewart

Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · 11h

Oh! Don't forget the cheat code for amazing mashed potatoes is to warm up your milk/cream/melted butter so that it blends well with your hot potatoes and mash them altogether. 🥰

Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · 14h

The kids are all home! And we pulled off the casino heist with 25 minutes to spare!

Reposted by Daxton R. Stewart

First Amendment Coalition @facoalition.bsky.social · 15h

BREAKING: FAC has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to prevent San Benito County from violating the First Amendment rights of two anonymous journalists who run Benito Beet Beat, a satirical news outlet on Facebook. firstamendmentcoalition.org/case/doe-v-c...

Reposted by Daxton R. Stewart

Mike Sacks @mikesacks.bsky.social · 20h

CA11 affirms lower court order tossing of Trump’s cases against Hillary Clinton and sanctioning his lawyers for bringing bad faith and frivolous claims.

Unanimous, bipartisan panel (GWB/Trump/Biden)

media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub...

Opinion of the Court
22-13410
No. 22-14099
DONALD J. TRUMP,
ALINA HABBA,
MICHAEL T. MADAIO, HABBA MADAIO & ASSOCIATES,
PETER TICKTIN, JAMIE A. SASSON,
THE TICKTIN LAW GROUP, et al.,
versus
HILLARY R. CLINTON, et al.,
CHARLES HALLIDAY DOLAN JR.,
Plaintiff,
Plaintiffs-Appellants
Defendants,
Defendant-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
D.C. Docket No. 2:22-CV-14102-DMM
Before WILLIAM PrYoR, Chief Judge, and BRASHER and KIDD, Circuit Judges.
WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge:

These four consolidated appeals concern five separate or-ders. In 2022, between his terms of office, President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against dozens of defendants, alleging several claims, including two under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and three under Florida law. The district court dismissed the amended complaint with prejudice for failure to state a claim. On the defendants' motions, the district court also entered sanctions against Trump and his attorneys, under Rule 11 and under its inherent authority. While those orders were on appeal, Trump and his attorneys moved the district court to reconsider each order in the light of a report by Special Counsel John Durham.
They also moved to disquality the district judge. The district court denied both motions. Two defendants ask us to sanction Trump for bringing a frivolous appeal.
We affirm the orders with a caveat. Because the district court lacked jurisdiction over one defendant, it erred in dismissing the claims against that defendant with prejudice. So we vacate the dismissal of those claims and remand with instructions to dismiss them without prejudice. Because Trump's remaining claims are untimely and otherwise meritless, we affirm the dismissal of the amended complaint with prejudice for the other defendants. And because Trump and his attorneys committed sanctionable conduct and forfeited their procedural objections, we affirm both sanctions orders. The Durham Report does not change our conclusions, and the district court lacked jurisdiction to consider the disqualification motion. Yet, because the appeal of the dismissal order is not frivo-lous, we deny both motions for appellate sanctions.

The District Court Correctly Dismissed the Amended Complaint for Failure to State a Claim.
We do not doubt that, in the light of the Durham Report, President Trump has concerns about some defendants' conduct during the 2016 election. The investigation by Special Counsel Durham found that some defendants played a role in orchestrating unverified allegations of him colluding with Russia. Durham Report 11-12, 16-17. And it found that key allegations in the Steele Dossier, relied on by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the press, were never corroborated. Id. at 13. Some appeared to be fab-ricated. Id. at 16. The Special Counsel's investigation found that Bureau officials appeared to favor Clinton and that their investigation decisions reflected that preference. Id. at 9-10. And it found that the Crossfire Hurricane investigation began without "any actual evidence of collusion." Id. at 8. Yet, those findings do not cure the deficiencies in Trump's racketeering claims.
The district court committed no error in ruling that Trump's federal claims of racketeering and state tort claims failed as a matter of law. We reject the argument that the district court based its dismissal on the shotgun nature of the pleading. We address below why the dismissals were sound.

C. The District Court Did Not Abuse Its Discretion in Issuing Sanctions Based on Its Inherent Authority.
Federal courts have the inherent authority to "fashion an appropriate sanction for conduct which abuses the judicial process." Chambers v. NASCO, Inc., 501 U.S. 32, 44-45 (1991). This authority arises from the "control necessarily vested in courts to manage their own affairs so as to achieve the orderly and expeditious disposition of cases." Link v. Wabash R.R. Co., 370 U.S. 626, 630-31
(1962). To "unlock[] that inherent power," a court must find that a party or his attorney acted in "bad faith." Sciaretta v. Lincoln Nat'l Life Ins. Co., 778 F.3d 1205, 1212 (11th Cir. 2015). On a finding of bad faith, the district court may "assess attorney's fees." Id.
The district court ordered Trump and Habba (along with her law firm) to pay nearly $1 million in attorney's fees under its inherent authority. On appeal, Trump and Habba present several arguments against the sanctions. We discuss and reject each in turn.

Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · 22h

Peanut M&Ms are objectively the best. Don’t let anyone tell you any differen.

Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · 1d

If banana cream is on the menu, that’s the choice. Unless you’ve got coconut cream of course.

(the family made me coconut cream pie for my birthday this year, it’s the bomb dot com)

Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · 1d

I hear you. Dutch Apple is a proper pie. My kid makes a good pumpkin pie but even then I’ve only got a few bites in me before moving on to chocolate or pecan.

Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · 1d

I don’t even know what you said but I’m guessing you’re one of those pumpkin pie people

(pumpkin pie is a squash quiche)

Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · 1d

If we’re having pie discourse, here’s my chocolate pie recipe that I posted last year. It’s my favorite.

Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · Nov 26

Oldest kid is staying in Baton Rouge for thanksgiving & wanted my chocolate pie recipe to take to her feast. It hit me that I write this column when she was barely a year old, and this printout is more than 20 years old. Anyhow - if you like chocolate pie, this recipe delivers.

Reposted by Daxton R. Stewart

T. J. Stiles @tj-stiles.bsky.social · 1d

Given the BlueSky habit of raging at news media for not framing a story exactly right (I am not innocent), I want to stop and thank every journalist who’s digging up facts about this unprecedented moment of profound evil in our government. Owners may suck, editors err, but you are golden. Thank you.

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Cas Mudde, Ben H. Ansell , and 72 more Jonathan Portes, Cas Mudde, Ben H. Ansell, Richard S.J. Tol, Dorothy Bishop, David M. Farrell, Will Jennings, Stefan Rahmstorf, David N. Thomas, Gavin A. Schmidt, Patrick A. Jansen, John Horgan, Steve Peers, Andrew Scott, Colin Murray, Mark D. White, Huw Price, Rosemary A. Joyce, Elizabeth Stokoe, Dirk Pilat, Charles West, Martijn W. Hesselink, Chris Hanretty, Simon Wren‐Lewis, Alison Phipps, Mary Corcoran, Anand Menon, Michelle Everson, Jo Barraket, Rebecca Tushnet, Ben Worthy, David R. Miller, Robert Wolfe, Gary D. Rawnsley, Aileen McHarg, Jacob T. Levy, Simon Glendinning, Scott A. Imberman, Julie Cupples, Lyndsey Stonebridge, Stephen Ryan, Samantha Brennan, Jonathan Birch, Anne Norton, Hubert Zimmermann, Leo McCann, Timothy Burke, Manuel Puppis, Graeme Warren, David Bartram, Lisa Diedrich, Brian Doucet, Ann Bartow, Stuart White, Pauline Stafford, Clayton Littlejohn, Rense Corten, Greg Linden, Jack Stilgoe, Lukas Graf, Jon Dean, Klaus Oschema, Christina Pagel, Daxton R. Stewart, Rune Møller Stahl, Olivier Mannoni, Camille Lefebvre, Aviel Roshwald, Colin Talbot, Tarik Abou‐Chadi, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Jeroen Van Bouwel, David Spurrett, François Guesnet, Speranţa Dumitru

Rutger Bregman @rutgerbregman.com · 2d

I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1

Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · 2d

Epic thread for your enjoyment

Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 2d

yes, hello, I would like to place an order for everyone’s funniest stories of holiday food-related family grudges / drama / chaotic incidents / lore

I feel like we need this

Reposted by Caroline Krafft, Richard Waite, Melanie C. Green , and 5 more Caroline Krafft, Richard Waite, Melanie C. Green, Caroline T. Schroeder, Alison Johnson, Hisham Zerriffi, Daxton R. Stewart, Peter Gratton

Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 2d

yes, hello, I would like to place an order for everyone’s funniest stories of holiday food-related family grudges / drama / chaotic incidents / lore

I feel like we need this

Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · 2d

“Thinking about the future of media is depressing, dull and probably destructive. Let’s think about Star Wars instead.”

Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · 2d

IMHO the only thing ROS finishes ahead of is the Holiday Special. And it’s closer than it should be.

Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · 2d

I really wish they'd told the next part of the story. Qi'ra was a great character! Donald Glover as Lando! I was entertained.

Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · 2d

It’s a good list. I’d move Revenge of the Sith down below Solo, and I prefer Attack of the Clones to Phantom Menace, but I know that’s an extreme minority opinion. And yeah, Rogue One & Last Jedi might be 3-4 in my list.

Reposted by Daxton R. Stewart

A.Jay Wagner @ajaywagner.bsky.social · 2d

Great new study, from Mitch McKenney, examining FOI appeal mechanisms, with a special focus on Ohio's innovative FOI-focused court of claims.

If you're interested in the current state or future of appeals, this one's for you. #FOIA

Just $25 to File, No Lawyer Required: Assessing an Alternative Public Record Complaint Procedure | The Journal of Civic Information

journals.flvc.org

Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · 2d

That’s all we need it for! Plus some occasional recipes we don’t want to read only on a phone.

Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · 2d

I first read this recommendation a couple of years ago, bought the Brother printer, and yep, it just works fine with no drama. My mom wanted a printer and we got her one too but she insisted on color, so there may be more drama (none yet).

Comfortably Numb @numb.comfortab.ly · 4d

www.theverge.com/tech/641940/...

Best printer 2025: just buy a Brother laser printer, the winner is clear, middle finger in the air

Best Printer 2025: wireless laser home office supply shop now Brother

www.theverge.com

Reposted by Fabián Muniesa, Robert C. Richards, David R. Miller , and 1 more Fabián Muniesa, Robert C. Richards, David R. Miller, Daxton R. Stewart

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 3d

AP is back in court today to defend itself and the right to speak freely without government retaliation.

Why AP is standing for your right to speak freely

The executive editor of The Associated Press says the news organization is fighting for the right of the press and public to speak freely without being targeted by the government.

bit.ly

Chip Stewart @medialawprof.bsky.social · 3d

Folks - this show has a journalism professor with a book called “The Fourth Estate: America’s First Line of Defense Against the Second Coming of the Third Reich”

Reposted by Daxton R. Stewart

mike taddow @miketaddow.bsky.social · 3d

THIS WAS THE COWBOYS’ SUPER BOWL. 24-21 WIN.

Reposted by McKenzie Wark, David J. Berri, Daxton R. Stewart

Tiffany C. Li @tiffanycli.bsky.social · 3d

Are we not even making our own disinformation? What happened to American manufacturing?

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 4d

Twitter pays people based on engagement (views, retweets, comments, etc). It appears that many MAGA accounts are based abroad and they use AI technology to generate low-effort rage bait.

My guess is that this will get worse as AI tech improves. For instance, fake videos of minorities doing crime.