https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200205/15574343865/pigs-fly-as-charles-harder-donald-trump-support-anti-slapp-laws-when-they-protect-trump-course.shtml > As you probably recall, Donald Trump has repeatedly talked about "opening up our libel laws" and making it easier to sue people for defamation "and win lots of money." As we pointed out when he first raised this issue, while Trump cannot directly impact libel laws (which are state laws, not federal, and are bounded by the 1st Amendment, which he cannot change), he can have an impact in many other ways -- from appointing judges to blocking any attempt at a federal anti-SLAPP law that would protect people from bogus defamation lawsuits. > So, back in the fall of 2018, we found it mildly amusing to see Trump himself using an anti-SLAPP law to successfully defeat a (highly questionable) defamation lawsuit from Stormy Daniels. Even more surprising was that Trump was represented in this case by lawyer Charles Harder, who has built up quite a reputation for suing media companies on behalf of the rich and powerful. As many people know, he was the lawyer in the case against us at Techdirt, in which he argued against the application of California's anti-SLAPP law to get us out of the lawsuit and to award us legal fees. An old Hollywood Reporter profile of Harder described how he, too, hoped to change the standards for defamation and make it easier to sue: