FACT SHEET: Information on ed artau, trump's nominee to the u.s. district court for the Southern District of florida

Artau Echoed Trump’s “FAKE NEWS” Claims As He Helped Give Trump A Legal Win In Defamation Case Against Pulitzer Board 

• In February 2025, Artau was part of a judicial panel greenlighting Trump’s defamation case against the Pulitzer Prize board. Trump sued the board in 2022 after it refused to revoke awards it had given for reporting on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. 

• In his own “lengthy, solo concurrence” in the ruling, Artau echoed Trump’s claims of “FAKE NEWS” as Artau called on the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a precedent setting a high bar for defamation lawsuits involving public figures. The precedent in question, set by the Supreme Court’s 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan decision, has provided “critical protections for free speech and freedom of the press” for decades. 

Artau Has Deep Ties To The Right-Wing Federalist Society And Sparked A Governor’s Office Investigation For Pushing A Politically-Connected Circuit Court Nominee

• The right-wing Federalist Society (FedSoc) looms large on Artau’s official biography, which notes that he is a member of FedSoc, was a founding member of the FedSoc’s Miami Lawyers Chapter, and has been given multiple FedSoc awards. As recently as February 2025, Artau was given an annual award recognizing him as a “distinguished member” of the Florida FedSoc and lauding his “commitment to the Society.”

• In 1995, Artau “sparked a gubernatorial investigation” when he served on the Florida Judicial Nominating Commission. The investigation found that he should not have used his role to push a circuit bench nominee because the nominee’s husband had “arranged for [Artau’s] appointment” to the Commission.

• Artau was a Republican precinct chairman and worked to help elect President George W. Bush.

Artau Has Sided With Corporations And Investors, Including Striking Down A Multimillion Dollar Penalty Against Big Tobacco

• In 2023, while a judge for Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal, Artau joined a ruling that tossed out $2 million in punitive damages against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in a lawsuit from a smoker suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

• Also In 2023, while a judge for Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal, Artau joined a ruling shielding an investor and the owner of a management company from a wrongful-death and negligence lawsuit filed by a nursing home resident.