Deep-pocketed individuals and corporations have been turning to civil lawsuits to silence their opponents. These Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, or SLAPPs, aren’t designed to win on the merits, but rather to harass journalists, activists, and consumers into silence by suing them over their protected speech.
Now there’s a bill in Congress that will allow speakers targeted by SLAPPs to fight back, by getting the lawsuits quickly thrown out of federal court, and allow for SLAPP victims to get their legal fees back. The Free Speech Protection Act, H.R. 10310, sponsored by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA), will protect people from getting sued just for exercising their constitutional rights.
34 states and Washington, D.C. have some sort of anti-SLAPP law. The effective ones, such as California’s law, allow for SLAPP lawsuits to be quickly identified and thrown out of court. These laws have passed on a bipartisan basis and have successfully protected speakers of all backgrounds and political views. But there’s no federal anti-SLAPP law, and many states have no SLAPP protections at all.
The First Amendment gives power to anyone who wants to speak out. We can voice our views on our own blogs or social media, work with an activist organization, and protest in person. Civil lawsuits brought by the wealthy and powerful must not be a tool for trampling on those rights.
Another one:
Tell your Senators to oppose Trump’s dangerous pick of Kash Patel for FBI Director
Trump has announced he’s selected Kash Patel to lead the FBI.
A reminder - directors of the FBI serve for 10 years and the mission of the bureau is to protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats and to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States.
But instead Patel is one of Trump’s most loyal enforcers and a conspiracy theorist — a 2020 election denier whose main focus is to purge the so-called “Deep State.” He recently publicly pledged to investigate and prosecute Trump’s enemies in the media and government.
Patel is a hyper-MAGA, vengeance-minded Trump loyalist to the point that even some Trump advisers recognize as an extreme liability — even if those aides and confidants aren’t willing to do much to get in Patel’s way, mostly due to Trump’s protection of the man.