HR 4364, the Federal Anti-SLAPP bill, was introduced by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN9) – a two-time First Amendment Bad Ass Award winner.
Public Intellectual reports that Cohen has brought on a few more co-sponsors: Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-TX20), Fortney “Pete” Stark (D-CA13), and Mike Doyle (D-PA14). (source)
Does anyone see anything wrong with that picture?
Four Democrats support a tort reform measure. Where are the Republicans? Are they only in favor of “tort reform” when the cases are against doctors and chemical companies? Come on, not a single one of you fuckers give a shit about the First Amendment?
For those of you out in Satyricon Land, I urge you to call AND WRITE to your congressman, don’t just call. Tell them to support HR 4364. If you don’t know who your Representative is, look it up here.
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The Legal Satyricon 
Keep in mind people like Beck and Limbaugh like to throw out the occasional libel suit and bankrupt a critic. Since they control the republican party, you can pretty much assure yourself there won’t be any GOP support.
Republican policy is predicated on two points: enriching corporations and the wealthy, and doing the exact opposite of what a “liberal” might like (with the express purpose of pissing them off).
Since, on this issue, it would neither enrich corporations nor fail to enrage liberals, they will take the opposing view.
Well, lets not be so certain about how liberals feel about the First Amendment. Elena Kagan is “troubled” by New York Times v. Sullivan. And, the whole liberal crybaby thing is built on a foundation of “free speech is okay as long as nobody whines and cries and says that they are offended.”
[…] Randazza wonders why Republicans (who are so committed to “tort reform”) won’t bac…. Rough background: a SLAP suit is one in which a powerful entity (say, a corporation) files a lawsuit to silence criticism. Even if the suit has no merit, defending against a suit might be expensive, hence the less powerful party will have to cave, even if they have acted within their First Amendment rights. You sometimes see this when someone complains about lousy service on a blog or on twitter. Of course, customer complaints on things like twitter sometimes gets results. […]
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/business/12suit.html?_r=1&source=patrick.net recent article regarding the need for a federal anti SLAPP statute… Although how would it work if you’re sued in state court? You can’t remove based on Federal law defense…