Randazza’s Client Andrew Anglin and the First Amendment

Marc Randazza represents Andrew Anglin, a neo-Nazi who runs the Daily Stormer, in a First Amendment case. It started as a small-town dispute between the plaintiff Tanya Gersh and a few other residents of Whitefish, Montana.

Gersh accuses Anglin of using his online platform to encourage his readers to launch an avalanche of hate and harassment threats toward them. Gersh says she received hateful messages and records of phone calls made by the followers of Randazza’s client. Gersh alleges that she received threats and verbal abuse because she is Jewish.

Gersh wants Marc Randazza’s client Andrew Anglin to be held responsible for the actions of the third-parties who contacted her. However, Marc Randazza, says that according to the First Amendment, “liberty demands that Anglin’s readers remain free to speak”. The prominent First Amendment attorney thinks that if people believe in freedom of expression and protect it as a constitutional right, they should believe in it even for “Nazis, Klansmen, pornographers, and anybody else you might find to be objectionable.”

Marc Randazza says that his client should not be held liable for the speech of his readers. Moreover, his client said multiple times that the statements made by his readers toward the plaintiff do not imply violence: the statements should be perceived as “hyperbolic insults”.

Marc Randazza stated that he is not defending Anglin’s beliefs, as Randazza does not support Anglin’s views. However, Mr. Randazza believes that defending people whose speech you abhor is probably the best way to preach your love for the First Amendment.

Read the latest about Marc Randazza’s case on CNN here.