Trump Asks Supreme Court to Revive 2022 Suit and Overturn Nearly $938,000 in Sanctions

President Donald Trump has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to revive his failed 2022 civil lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and other defendants and to overturn nearly $938,000 in sanctions imposed on him and his lawyers.

At the center of the appeal is an unusual legal question: whether time limits for a president’s private civil damages claims can be paused while he is in office. In papers tied to the Supreme Court filing, Trump and the other petitioners also said they want the justices to decide whether a Clayton Act tolling provision — a rule that can suspend filing deadlines in some antitrust matters — applies to civil RICO claims. In an extension application, the petitioners said they would seek review “based on substantial questions regarding the applicable statute of limitations tolling provisions for civil RICO claims, and the determination of tolling principles applicable to the President of the United States.”

Lower courts have already rejected Trump’s case. He filed the lawsuit on March 24, 2022, in federal court in South Florida. U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks dismissed the amended complaint with prejudice on Sept. 8, 2022, and later imposed sanctions totaling about $937,989.39 against Trump and his counsel. On Nov. 26, 2025, the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed most of the dismissal and sanctions rulings, while making a limited jurisdiction-related adjustment for one foreign defendant. The appeals court denied rehearing en banc on May 12, 2026. “Because Trump’s remaining claims are untimely and otherwise meritless, we affirm the dismissal of the amended complaint with prejudice for the other defendants,” the Eleventh Circuit wrote.

The underlying suit accused Clinton, the Democratic National Committee, former FBI Director James Comey, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and others of conspiring to harm Trump by promoting the Russia-collusion narrative tied to the 2016 election.

The Supreme Court petition also seeks to undo the sanctions award, which Reuters reported the filing described as part of “a deeply troubling trend of federal courts using sanctions and disciplinary threats to punish the president and his lawyers for legitimate legal positions that those courts (erroneously) reject.” The sanctions add financial stakes to a case that had already drawn attention because of the political prominence of the parties.

Supreme Court public records confirm the lead-up to Trump’s filing. The court’s docket shows that Trump and the other petitioners received one extension to Sept. 9, 2026, and then a second extension to Oct. 9, 2026, to file a petition asking the court to hear the case. The docket lists Richard C. Klugh Jr. as counsel of record for the petitioners.

Reuters reported on Oct. 9 that Trump had filed the petition. If the case is docketed in the ordinary course, the respondents would typically have 30 days to file a response or ask for more time before the justices decide whether to take up the appeal.