Green Energy
As Publisher's Weekly says, this is a major disappointment that they should throw away a chance to defend American citizens from libel suits filed in Britain. Here's the New York Sun's report on the turnout. However, as Democracy Project tells, there's a reason why this has happened:
Here's what the AP Wire says:
Update: be sure to read Andrew McCarthy's whole discussion.
- British Law May Be Changed To Prevent Libel Tourism
Amiel Ungar reports that Britain looks like it's changing its laws to get rid of libel tourism: Britain is about to change its libel laws. This development rates as world news for a few reasons: Britain will no longer be the favored site for "libel...
- Rachel's Law
The Last Crusade: DR. HUGH CORT: THE UNSUNG HERO OF THE FREE SPEECH ACT LIBEL TOURISM OUTLAWED OBAMA SIGNS “RACHEL’S LAW” by Paul L. Williams, Ph.D. The [Free] SPEECH Act (Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional...
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CALIFORNIA BECOMES SECOND STATE TO PROTECT AMERICANS FROM FOREIGN LIBEL LAWS byMichael Travis The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, signed a law yesterday that will protect American journalist and broadcasters from British and foreign libel...
- Follow-up: Alms For Jihad
To this and this. From this source (emphases mine): Here’s a story with huge implications for freedom of speech (all negative), and it’s apparently gone almost entirely unreported in the mainstream press. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education...
- Why "libel Tourism" Is A Serious Matter
Britain may be slowly sinking towards dhimmitude, but that doesn't mean we should allow certain of their unholy practices to determine the future of countries abroad. Case in point: the heroic reporter Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of Funding Evil:...
Green Energy
NY's dreadful judicial system refuses to uphold Ehrenfeld's First Amendment rights
As Publisher's Weekly says, this is a major disappointment that they should throw away a chance to defend American citizens from libel suits filed in Britain. Here's the New York Sun's report on the turnout. However, as Democracy Project tells, there's a reason why this has happened:
What’s missing from the Sun’s account are four important points:The state reps should certainly be lobbied to do something about this, though something tells me that Hillary Clinton is not one of them.
1. The NY law, unlike say California’s, is narrowly drawn, so residents have less protections from suits decided in other jurisdictions, especially ones that may be specious.
2. New York is a world center of publishing. All its publishers are, and some already have been, subject to “libel tourism” suits from Britain’s lax laws, which require the defendant to expensively prove all allegations rather than the plaintiff to prove libel as under U.S. law. These suits are a chill upon Americans’ free speech rights, as even a few copies of a U.S. publication sold over the Internet in Britain (as were just 23 copies of Ehrenfeld’s book) opens U.S. publishers to “libel tourism” suits from Britain.
3. New York’s legislature should immediately correct its statute, to conform to the U.S. Constitution. NY publishers and others should contact Governor Spitzer, their legislative reps, and also U.S. Senators Schumer and Clinton to bring their influence to bear.
4. Rachel Ehrenfeld, meanwhile, has seen her publishing access squeezed by fear of this suit, and lost considerable opportunities to earn her living, while Americans have been denied the opportunity to read her well-researched exposes of Arab financing of terror.
Here's what the AP Wire says:
The unanimous decision interpreting a New York law now goes to a federal court. There, author Rachel Ehrenfeld has sought to combat what her attorney argued was a chilling effect on free speech by the billionaire, Khalid Salim A. Bin Mahfouz. The Saudi businessman has sued more than two dozen times over writings on terrorism and those who fund it, including Ehrenfeld's 2003 book.Indeed it does. It's time to halt this foreign persecution tactic dead in its tracks.
"The chill continues," said Ehrenfeld's attorney, Daniel Kornstein of Manhattan.
Kornstein said the businessman hasn't tried to collect on his judgment, which includes an apology and a halt on book sales. But he said the London court verdict is a threat to authors.
"That's the danger and the risk and the problem that we tried to stress," Kornstein said. "It creates a sword of Damocles that prohibits authors and publishers _ and readers can't read about it."
Update: be sure to read Andrew McCarthy's whole discussion.
- British Law May Be Changed To Prevent Libel Tourism
Amiel Ungar reports that Britain looks like it's changing its laws to get rid of libel tourism: Britain is about to change its libel laws. This development rates as world news for a few reasons: Britain will no longer be the favored site for "libel...
- Rachel's Law
The Last Crusade: DR. HUGH CORT: THE UNSUNG HERO OF THE FREE SPEECH ACT LIBEL TOURISM OUTLAWED OBAMA SIGNS “RACHEL’S LAW” by Paul L. Williams, Ph.D. The [Free] SPEECH Act (Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional...
-
CALIFORNIA BECOMES SECOND STATE TO PROTECT AMERICANS FROM FOREIGN LIBEL LAWS byMichael Travis The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, signed a law yesterday that will protect American journalist and broadcasters from British and foreign libel...
- Follow-up: Alms For Jihad
To this and this. From this source (emphases mine): Here’s a story with huge implications for freedom of speech (all negative), and it’s apparently gone almost entirely unreported in the mainstream press. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education...
- Why "libel Tourism" Is A Serious Matter
Britain may be slowly sinking towards dhimmitude, but that doesn't mean we should allow certain of their unholy practices to determine the future of countries abroad. Case in point: the heroic reporter Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of Funding Evil:...