(Photo
by
Drew
Angerer/Getty
Images)
In
October,
Rudy
Giuliani
sued
Joe
Biden
for
defamation.
The
complaint
was
a
typically
Rudy
joint.
He
alleged
that
Biden
had
defamed
him
during
a
2020
presidential
debate
in
Tennessee
by
calling
him
a
“Russian
pawn.”
He
filed
it
in
New
Hampshire,
the
only
state
with
a
three-year
statute
of
limitations.
His
putative
lawyer
was
a
guy
from
Staten
Island
who
used
a
hotmail
address
calling
himself
“Biker451Lou”
in
his
signature
block.
And
in
typically
Rudy
fashion,
he
appears
to
have
simply
slid
off
the
barstool
and
forgotten
all
about
it.
Specifically,
the
president
promptly
removed
the
case
to
federal
court
on
diversity
grounds,
and
then
filed
a
motion
to
dismiss
for
lack
of
personal
jurisdiction,
because
the
only
way
Biden’s
comments
were
“directed”
at
the
state
of
New
Hampshire
was
that
the
state’s
residents
could
watch
the
debate
like
everyone
else
on
Planet
Earth.
After
which
Rudy
just
…
didn’t
bother
to
answer.
Instead
he
filed
a
notice
in
February
that
he’d
declared
bankruptcy
in
a
desperate
attempt
to
fend
off
collection
of
the
$148
million
judgment
in
favor
of
Ruby
Freeman
and
Shaye
Moss,
the
Atlanta
poll
workers
he
accused
of
stealing
Georgia
for
Biden.
(Well,
he
left
that
second
part
out).
But,
as
Biden
pointed
out,
Rudy
“did
not
argue
that
the
bankruptcy
affected
his
obligation
to
respond
to
the
motion
by
wholly
staying
the
litigation
(which
it
plainly
does
not).”
“Accordingly,
Plaintiff
has
waived
any
objection
to
the
Defendants’
motion
to
dismiss,”
he
added.
If
the
plaintiff
objected
to
this,
he
failed
to
mention
it
to
the
court,
except
for
three
hand-wavey
paragraphs
in
a
joint
status
report
in
May,
where
he
suggested
that
the
bankruptcy
automatically
stayed
all
civil
proceedings.
In
June,
Judge
Paul
Barbadoro
put
out
a
minute
order
telling
Rudy
that
he
was
“mistaken”
that
the
bankruptcy
stayed
proceedings
filed
by
the
debtor
and
ordering
“America’s
Mayor”
to
respond
to
the
motion
to
dismiss
within
three
weeks.
And
still,
Giuliani
did
nothing,
even
after
his
bankruptcy
case
was
dismissed
for
failure
to
comply
with
court
orders
and
submit
mandatory
filings
—
the
man
is
nothing
if
not
consistent.
On
Friday,
Judge
Baradoro
had
finally
had
enough.
“When
personal
jurisdiction
is
challenged,
the
plaintiff
must
carry
the
burden
of
showing
that
personal
jurisdiction
is
both
statutorily
authorized
and
consistent
with
the
constitutional
requirements
of
due
process,”
he
wrote,
noting
that
the
plaintiff
had
not
objected
to
the
motion
to
dismiss.
“For
the
reasons
set
forth
in
the
defendants’
memorandum,
Giuliani
has
utterly
failed
to
carry
this
burden.”
The
onetime
US
Attorney
for
the
Southern
District
of
New
York
couldn’t
even
prosecute
his
own
defamation
case.
Rudy
stumbles
out
of
New
Hampshire
worse
off
than
when
he
started
(unless
he
stiffed
his
lawyers,
which
would
also
be
very
on
brand).
He
won’t
even
be
there
for
leaf
peeping
season.
That’s
okay
—
he’s
got
important
business
to
handle
back
in
New
York.
Giuliani
v.
Biden
[Docket
via
Court
Listener]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.