By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Donald Trump cannot sue E. Jean Carroll, a writer who says he raped her in the mid-1990s, on the grounds that her defamation lawsuit against him violated a New York state law intended to protect free speech, a federal judge ruled on Friday.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan accused the former U.S. president of “bad faith” by needlessly delaying the former Elle magazine columnist’s lawsuit, which began in November 2019 and could have “long ago” been decided.

“The defendant’s litigation tactics, whatever their intent, have delayed the case to an extent that readily could have been far less,” Kaplan wrote.

Letting Trump countersue “would make a regrettable situation worse by opening new avenues for significant further delay,” he added. Kaplan also said it would be “futile” for Trump to prove that his counterclaim belonged in federal court.

Alina Habba, a lawyer for Trump, said: “While we are disappointed with the court’s decision today, we eagerly look forward to litigating this action and proving at trial that the plaintiff’s claims have absolutely no basis in law or in fact.”

Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Carroll and not related to the judge, said she and her client “could not agree more” that the case should be over by now.

Carroll, 78, accused Trump in a June 2019 book excerpt of raping her in late 1995 or early 1996 in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in midtown Manhattan.

She said Trump defamed her when he told a reporter he did not know Carroll, accused her of concocting the rape claim to sell her book and said, “She’s not my type.”

‘FUTILE’ TO COUNTERSUE

In seeking a dismissal and damages, Trump invoked New York’s “anti-SLAPP” law, short for “strategic lawsuits against public participation.”

The November 2020 law had been meant to protect journalists and others from deep-pocketed companies and people who file frivolous lawsuits designed to silence critics.

Trump said Carroll’s lawsuit also violated that law because it was meant to harass him for speaking out.

But the judge said Trump offered “no satisfactory justification” for waiting 14 months after the law took effect to invoke it.

Trump is awaiting a decision from the federal appeals court in Manhattan on whether he is immune from Carroll’s lawsuit under a law shielding federal employees from defamation claims, because he discussed her in his capacity as president.

Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration sided with Trump in that appeal, despite what it called the Republican’s “crude and offensive comments” over Carroll’s “very serious” accusations.

Carroll’s lawyers are hoping to compare Trump’s DNA with a dress Carroll said she wore during the alleged rape.

They also wanted to question Trump under oath, but citing Trump’s delays, said last month this was no longer necessary.

The case is Carroll v Trump, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-07311.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Grant McCool and Cynthia Osterman)

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