Trump’s legal team had argued while he was still in office that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t authorize state courts to hear cases brought against sitting U.S. presidents.
But the New York Court of Appeals on Tuesday issued a one-sentence ruling stating that Trump’s arguments aren’t valid anymore since he’s no longer president.
The lawsuit from former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos claims that the former president tried to defame her in 2016 when he said she lied about him sexually assaulting her years prior.
Zervos has accused Trump of groping her in a hotel room in 2007.
“Now a private citizen, the defendant has no further excuse to delay for Ms. Zeros, and we eager to get back to the trial court and prove her claims,” Zervos’s lawyers Beth Wilkinson and Moira Penza said in a statement Tuesday, according to the AP.
The case has been on hold since last March after Trump argued he couldn’t be tried while president. The court’s Tuesday ruling means the the lawsuit can proceed, opening Trump up to the possibility of being questioned under oath.