(Headline USA) The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against a man who wants to trademark the phrase “Trump too small.”
The justices upheld the government’s decision to deny a trademark to Steve Elster, a California man seeking exclusive use of the phrase on T-shirts and potentially other merchandise in order to lampoon former President Donald Trump with puerile innuendo that suggests a certain preoccupation with the GOP leader’s private parts.
The Justice Department supported President Joe Biden’s predecessor and presumptive GOP opponent in the 2024 election. Government officials said the phrase “Trump too small” could still be used, just not trademarked because Trump had not consented to its use.
Elster’s lawyers had argued that the decision violated his free speech rights, and a federal appeals court agreed, even though he wasn’t being censored.
At arguments, Chief Justice John Roberts said that if Elster were to win, people would race to trademark “Trump too this, Trump too that.”
Twice in the past six years, the justices have struck down provisions of federal law denying trademarks seen as scandalous or immoral in one case and disparaging in another.
Elster’s case dealt with another measure calling for a trademark request to be refused if it involves a name, portrait or signature “identifying a particular living individual” unless the person has given “written consent.”
The phrase at the heart of the case is a hamfisted reference to an exchange Trump had during the 2016 presidential campaign with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who was then also running for the Republican presidential nomination.
Rubio began the verbal jousting when he told supporters at a rally that Trump was always calling him “little Marco” but that Trump—who says he is 6 feet and 3 inches tall—has disproportionately small hands. “Have you seen his hands? … And you know what they say about men with small hands,” Rubio said. “You can’t trust them.”
Trump then brought up the comment at a televised debate on March 3, 2016.
“Look at those hands. Are they small hands? And he referred to my hands—if they’re small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there’s no problem. I guarantee you,” he said.
Despite trying to take shots at the size of Trump’s genitalia, left-wing lawfare activists have also tried to paint him as a serial Lothario, claiming that he had a fling with Manhattan socialite E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room in the 1990s, and that he engaged in trysts with porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy bunny Karen McDougal shortly after marrying his third wife—and future first lady—European model Melania Trump.
Further underscoring the Left’s peculiar interest in knowing about Trump’s sex life, prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office recently called Daniels to the witness stand and asked her to recall in graphic detail their sexual encounters during a case ostensibly about whether Trump had falsified business records.
The case is one of several cases at the court relating to Trump. Last week, the court laid out standards for when public officials can be sued for blocking critics from their social media accounts.
In the most highly anticipated case related to Trump, the court will rule on his presidential immunity argument, determining whether a person should be exempted from prosecution over actions taken while serving as president in order to avoid the chilling effect of having their political enemies target them after the fact, as Trump’s have done repeatedly.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
