Victory for Bloggers: Illinois Blog Wins Lawsuit
by Warner Todd HustonIn a good sign for blogger free speech, a lawsuit against a high profile conservative blog in Illinois has just been tossed out. A political contributor brought the lawsuit over a story about property tax reassessments and political contributions. This is a victory for free political speech as well as a victory for the status of blogs in the world of “journalism.”
I’ve been aware of this story for some time but the folks at Illinois Review, the blog in question, asked me to sort of keep it all quiet. There were all sorts of legal questions being thrown about and since the folks that run the blog don’t have deep pockets and the whole thing was being born at their own expense, they wanted to be sure this whole mess didn’t escalate and hurt them too bad financially.
The lawsuit meant to silence the blog was a convoluted one, to be sure. Illinois Review had posted a story that revealed that former Ill. State Rep. Paul Froehlich (R, Schaumburg) had sought campaign contributions from property owners who had won property tax relief claims that the Representative had assisted in getting settled. But after the story went live, due to the notoriety the county assessors office reversed those tax relief decisions.
One of the property owners mentioned in the original story was Satkar Hospitality. Illinois Review reported the facts of the case, noted that Satkar got a favorable property tax reassessment, and speculated that Satkar made “in-kind contributions” to Rep. Froehlich.
For his part Rep. Froehlich claimed that there was no quid pro quo and said he’d known the folks at Satkar “before they even opened their hotel and long before they contributed to my campaign.”
Satkar sued the Illinois Review for defamation — naming Fox News and others as coconspirators.
Fortunately, U.S. District Court Judge Matthew F. Kennelly dismissed the suit because Satkar “failed to show” that its claims against the blog were legitimate. Judge Kennelly also ruled that the bloggers have the right to seek reasonable attorney’s fees and costs from Satkar.
My friend John Ruberry noted that the plaintiffs’ complaint contained a particularly low blow to the blog, too. Satkar’s lawyer, R. Tamara de Silva, said that Illinois Review had “attracted a large goosestepping audience.”
Nice, huh? This sort of obscene language does not belong in our courts.
In his decision, Judge Kennelly also affirmed that the blog was expressing its right to the “furtherance of their right of free speech.” This means we have yet one more precedent that we bloggers can be protected in our rights to freely publish our political opinions without fear of being sued over our blog posts (legitimate slander laws aside).
We’ve won another one, folks. Let us hope that these precedents continue to pile up protecting us all in our efforts online.
The Chicago-based Thomas More Society represented the blog. Thomas More specializes in defending religious liberty, traditional marriage, and takes on right-to-life issues. (www.thomasmoresociety.org)
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53 Comments
Freedom of Speech wins! Blog away. Stand on your 1st Amendment.
I'm all for liberal free speech…I'm also a big believer in conservative free speech and ear plugs..
Now if they can only do something about the 2nd amendment that's being gagged in that state…
The liberals in this country want free speech ONLY for them! They throw out nasty accusations, with NO basis, and NO proof of what they are saying! If they reinstated the law against slander, and I think they should, the libbers would explode!
This is one of my concerns. The Liberals use the Constitution "liberally" when it aids them in their agenda, but actively sue anyone who uses it to exercise their "rights" such as free speech. They will clog the courts, spend billions of dollars and cost tax payers endless amounts of money to reassert the fact that we CAN speak our minds openly.
The 1st and 2nd Amendments are basically the only thing keeping us from being converted to the Communist Utopia they so crave.
Here's some Freedom of Speech- Enforce our EXISTING Federal Immigration Law and deport ALL Illegal Alien Trespassers including terrorist Islamists! They don't belong here.
They have no papers. Didn't apply legally. Others are ahead of them. IT'S ILLEGAL. They cost US Billions for their Crime & HealthCare and babies. If a foreigner has a baby here, that baby is a Citizen of the mother's Country.
I also don't trust Islamists. Who is who? Who is going to blow US up. The Koran says they must kill the "Infidels" That's US! Dismantle the 2,000 Mosque Training Camps now that we know that they are not assimilating and plotting against US. Where do Illegal Islamists go when they sneak into Central & So America? Mexico & right into a nearby Mosque! Feel safe? Me either.
They're in our Govt- – Ellison and many more. They play Americans for fools. How long do we allow the infiltration. We've even got one in the White House! Enough! Clean out America!
The best way to protect one's rights is to EXCERCISE THEM! 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th (Yes, even Solyndra – though it looks bad for them, at least we all have this right), 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Amendments. The States had better start pressing the 10th Amendment, because it seems the Feds conveniently forget that one at times. God bless our founders for the foresight to limit government intervention in our lives. We must now fight (with all legal means) to preserve what they started.
Is it me or did you accidentally transpose "conservative" and "liberal", HPD?
Excellent! Also, the copyright troll group Righthaven is losing their shirts big-time for extorting bloggers. Yay!
Why is it, when liberals or environazis bring suit they manage to get government money to do it? Even when they are suing the government?
Democrats think the first amendment exists to protect all speech that praises democratic regimes. They do not think it prohibits them from retaliating against the speech of their political opposition.
The democrats are the fascists.
They are masters of fraud Nick. That is the simple answer.
The 2nd Amendment is the most important. Without it the government has no fear about violating the other 9.
The bullet was intended by the Founders to be the check and balance that made the government respect the BALLOT. And that's exactly why the 2nd Amendment exists.
Nick..
In reading it again, I can see how you might take it that way..!
I'm for liberal free speech and conservative earplugs…Better?
Righthaven has no standing to file their lawsuits. Only the copyright OWNER can. Unless these corporations who are using Righthaven as a junkyard dog in order to not directly tarnish their own names the way the RIAA has done to the music labels actually ASSIGN the copyrights to Righthaven, they can't be the plaintiff.
Oh the horror! Bloggers have the same first amendment rights as the New York Times! What has the world come to!?
/sarc off
Okay, I can deal with that!
Cool…:)
These attacks at free speech are parallel to daily attacks to compromise our electronic security systems. It will always exist until the successful penetration is achieved. From there, a literal virus is unleashed.
Defending our first amendment right is tantamount to maintaining our second amendment right….and you could say vice versa as well…
If we lose either or both, we are ruined as a Republic…..and all the arguments get us as a nation nowhere. It's either we die a slow death of progressivism, or rebuild our Republic through a hard fought battle involving ideas and a willingness to sacrifice what is necessary to maintain this Republic. There is no other alternative that is better. That is just fact.
The first and second are under constant attack, and if you, as an American, sit back and depend on someone else to fight for your own personal behalf, you will lose these liberties forever. Never underestimate the power of the progressive….especially when it holds the power.
Either you die while you are a free man, or you slowly rot as a slave to those who have deceived you and taken advantage of you complacency…..
I choose to die a free man……what's your choice?
Amendment 1 – Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."
George Washington
In Illinois?
In Illinois?!?!?
GTFO
Judge Kennelly also ruled that the bloggers have the right to seek reasonable attorney’s fees and costs from Satkar.
In Illinois?!?!?!?!
What, was there an earthquake I missed?
Gotta be a misprint. Schamburg, Texas or something………..
Blogs are a new media alternative to traditional newsprint media. On the changing face of journalism and the newspaper business, Bob Gibson, Executive Director of the University of Virginia’s Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership, recently said: “I think our journalism and our politics are changing at an ever-increasing rate. The rapid change in journalism is very unsettling to the business. They are finding new business models that can work for newspapers in the internet age. Radio and television are also cutting back as advertising has shifted. They have to find working business models. They’ve also started cooperating with non-profit groups…. I think new partnerships are going to change the way the media is covering the news and the way the platforms are for reporting the news…. Everyone is trying new business models because old print newspaper empires will die if they view themselves as old print newspaper empires. They are either in the news business or in the newspaper business, and if they are in the news business they will adapt a new business model and survive. If they are in the newspaper business, they’ll just go out of business.” (Gibson appeared on the Charlottesville, VA, politics interview program Politics Matters with host and producer Jan Madeleine Paynter discussing journalism http://bit.ly/pm-gibson)
If another case like this is in the system and being similarly kept quiet, consider a money bomb. I am fairly certain the Conservative blogosphere can Paul Revere a large amount of cash quickly.
Together, we are a force to be reckoned with. I agree.
Wow a victory for the right good guys for a change. As I live in IL (65 years) and have watched with dismay the descent into liberal nirvana never never land, led by the IL DEM machine on steroids its about time we got a real solution instead of a political dictate from on high.
The truth hurts, literally!
Its being gagged, beaten, raped, scalded with hot irons, and doused with lemon juice and salt.
Yes and it is the FINAL check and balance, without it the ballot box means nothing, our voice means nothing, our will is nothing, and we will again be serfs, vassals to the government overlords, bent, broken, and thrown away like a used tire when the usefulness is stripped from us.
"I choose to die a free man……what's your choice?"
Free and fighting!
If they ever do decide to do a national armed force gun grab, I hope they send UN troops. That way I wont lose any sleep over pulling the trigger. I fully believe that the UN is the most evil, and freedom hating organization on the face of the planet, they want nothing more than to destroy us and force us to relinquish our entire country to their rule.
What scares me is that Obama may not "accept" the results of the 2012 election. He is, in his heart, a tyrant.
If that were to happen, if a sitting President were to repudiate the election that threw him out, I think we'd have no choice but to take up arms.
I agree with you, on both counts. Phuck it, I would rather go down, gun in hand, fighting for what I believe in, rather than p!ss myself, and hand control of the country to one man who thinks he should be king.
The First Amendment was not just ratified in 1791, it is ratified every time the courts let it stand. Like today.
SAF put it to the test and Her Honor Justice Sue Myerscough has it on her plate right this second. All that remains to be seen now is whether she applies the law as it is, the Supreme Law that is, and brings honor to her bench, or whether she decides to play politics and tries to legislate from the bench some contrived ambiguity. I am betting that, even though an Obama appointee, her Honor is going to do the right and proper thing by striking down Illinois UUW and AUUW statutes as unconstitutional. (This because they clearly are).
I look forward to Michael Madigan being bitten by the 71 rule he has long employed to deny us our Second Amendment recognized rights.
Illinois is on the cusp of Constitutional Carry. All it is going to take is for Justice Sue Myerscough to speak the truth. I may be wrong, but me thinks she will do exactly that, rather than have her entire career scarred by an intentional dissing of the Constitution itself, not to mention her own Oath.
You are correct. I run my own forum where we discuss mainly NASCAR, but I do have a general section where we discuss politics and news and such.
I have yet to have anyone on the right report someone on the left for their speech. However, every time some one on the left disagrees with someone on the right my inbox is flooded with complaints.
I have taken to task a few posters who constantly throw out the accusations of racist, homophope, etc… and have yet had any of them back up their claims.
As well as every time we speak, and use it! If the government wants to stifle it like everything else they will be met with fierce resistance. VIVA LA TEA PARTY!
I think it was the lack of a comma that made it read that way at first.
That may one day happen, but they will be kicking and screaming all the way.
The First Amendment is not limited to newspapers or television networks. It is a freedom inherent in all citizens of this great land. It is not "given" to us by the government, and the government has no authority to limit this most precious right.
I applaud the court's defense of this basic concept of liberty, and would also like to point out that the award of "costs" to the blog will insure that these cases will be few and far in between. From now on there is precedent for hitting these goons in their wallets, and they will surely think twice before trying to beat up on a little guy for exercising his God-given right.
That was my first thought. If it can win there it can win anywhere.
For such a progressive state they sure are behind the times……..
I'll back that up.
You said it RS!
Newspapers will always survive……but…….we all know "journalists", unlike REAL professionals, DO NOT HAVE A CODE OF ETHICS.
Bloggers….pro or amateur……do not have to write what they are told on a deadline. Bloggers are the saviors of the American Culture !
The Left are sooooo sensitive!
If they were allowed to sue over this blogger's opinion piece, they might have to let Tea Partiers sue over them calling us extremists, racists, f**king idiots, etc.?
Free men acting with a free will.
Those baby blue helmets do stand out great in contrast to backgrounds when viewed through scopes doncha know…
Yes they do.
Never even thought about it, but I usually use light blue paint on my steel targets so they stand out at the range…
Wow, that could be considered prophetic…..
Not sure about prophetic, I wandered into a parts store that was going out of business and they had 10 cases (12 cans each) of light blue Krylon enamel, for $5 a case. I bought all ten and have never seen any use for it other than target paint (its kind a wishy washy chevy blue, and I am a Ford man)
My husband and I lived in Illinois for 5 years. We moved there when the housing market was hot. Our property taxes increased majorly every year. The assessor's office said it was because property values had increased. When the housing market tanked and our taxes STILL went up they said, "well, we look at a 3 year average.". We finally moved out of state like so many other people have. Last I read, their taxes are STILL increasing and the housing market there is a disaster. I wonder what their excuse is now. I thought California was expensive, which is where we live now, but Illinois is actually more expensive. So, glad we got out of there. Illinois is a liberal disaster and it will only get worse!
I want out too, but I can't sell my house
Hi guys, while the lawsuit was on iffy grounds, Illinois Review did indeed jump the gun and practically accuse Satkar of committing a crime. The man wanted to clear his name and as far as he was concerned his remedy was to sue.
Illinois Review should have been more careful. The tests for libel are very tough in this country, so tough that you can be falsely accused of a crime and in some cases have little recourse. The judge did not see the Illinois anti-SLAPP law as unconstitutional but a state law cannot trump the Sullivan ruling either.
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