Judge rules Dominion can’t bring up Jan. 6 at Fox News trial

A judge in Delaware has ruled that Dominion Voting System’s lawyers may not reference the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol during next week’s blockbuster trial in its defamation suit against Fox News.

Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis ruled Tuesday during a pretrial conference that references to Jan. 6 could taint the jury’s view of the case and Dominion’s claims against Fox are not about whether it “influenced,” the attack on the Capitol, according to multiple reports.

“That may be for another court at another time, but it’s not for this court at this time,” Davis said, CNN reported.

Dominion is suing Fox for $1.6 billion over what the voting systems company says was the network’s airing for information about its software it knew was false. Many of the claims about Dominion’s software were being pushed by former president Trump and his allies, some of whom appeared on Fox’s air.

Fox has defended itself on First Amendment grounds and has argued it was covering the allegations being made by the president because they were newsworthy.

“This case is and always has been about the First Amendment protections of the media’s absolute right to cover the news,” Fox said in a recent statement about the case. “Fox will continue to fiercely advocate for the rights of free speech and a free press as we move into the next phase of these proceedings.” 

Davis ruled earlier this month that Dominion had proven the first key element of their claim: that the network’s statements about the company and the 2020 election were false.

The judge said a jury was needed to decide whether Fox operated with actual malice, a high legal bar for plaintiffs to clear in seeking damages in defamation cases.

Last week, Davis ruled Dominion could call top Fox Corp. executives like Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch as witnesses to testify during a jury trial, which is slated to begin on Monday.