Chickenshit American Bar Association Scared Out Of Publishing Report Calling Trump A Libel Bully
from the chilling-effects dept
We've talked a lot about Donald Trump and his ridiculous views on defamation and the First Amendment -- including his penchant for threatening defamation lawsuits against basically everyone who says something he dislikes. He rarely follows through, though he certainly does sue sometimes.In fact, someone has set up Trump-clock.com which lists out every known legal threat against the press or critics since his Presidential campaign began (ignoring the long list that predates the campaign). It also has a clock showing how long it's been since Trump's last threat.
So it shouldn't be much of a surprise that a group of media lawyers at the American Bar Association commissioned a report on Trump's litigation history, and the report (correctly) concluded that Donald Trump is a "libel bully" making a bunch of bogus threats and with a history of filing bogus defamation lawsuits in court (something he's outright bragged about). This shouldn't be controversial. Trump is, clearly, a libel bully, and even he has more or less admitted that with his comments on why he sued author Tim O'Brien.
But, apparently, the American Bar Association was too chickenshit and refused to publish the report, out of a fear that (wait for it...) Trump would sue them.
Alarmed by Donald J. Trump’s record of filing lawsuits to punish and silence his critics, a committee of media lawyers at the American Bar Association commissioned a report on Mr. Trump’s litigation history. The report concluded that Mr. Trump was a “libel bully” who had filed many meritless suits attacking his opponents and had never won in court.With the ABA chilled into suppressing a report about Donald Trump chilling free speech, the Media Law Resource Center picked up the fumbled ball and released the report on its own. The opening executive summary is pretty clear:
But the bar association refused to publish the report, citing “the risk of the A.B.A. being sued by Mr. Trump.”
David J. Bodney, a former chairman of the media-law committee, said he was baffled by the bar association’s interference in the committee’s journal.
“It is more than a little ironic,” he said, “that a publication dedicated to the exploration of First Amendment issues is subjected to censorship when it seeks to publish an article about threats to free speech.”
Donald J. Trump is a libel bully. Like most bullies, he's also a loser, to borrow from Trump's vocabulary.The full article then goes on to examine in more detail seven speech-related cases, and uses the paper to argue in favor of stronger anti-SLAPP laws to prevent such speech chilling.
Trump and his companies have been involved in a mind-boggling 4,000 lawsuits over the last 30 years and sent countless threatening cease-and-desist letters to journalists and critics.
But the GOP presidential nominee and his companies have never won a single speech-related case filed in a public court.
... this examination of Trump's libel losses also provides a powerful illustration of why more states need to enact anti-SLAPP laws to discourage libel bullies like Trump from filing frivolous lawsuits to chill speech about matters of public concern and run up legal tabs for journalists and critics.The ABA's refusal to publish the report is really ridiculous, but only serves to highlight the issue here. When an organization that absolutely must know better is still too afraid to publish a report like this, it highlights just how successful Trump can be in stifling speech with just his threats. And, yes, this report eventually was released, thanks to some First Amendment lawyers who knew how ridiculous this was, but we don't know how many others have been scared away into silence.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: chilling effects, defamation, donald trump, free speech, libel, libel bully
Companies: aba
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
I'll sue!
I'll sue!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I'll take all your money
I'll sue ya
If you even look at me funny
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
4,000 lawsuits
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Something something image is more important that truth.
Filing a frivolous case is supposed to be punishable, lawyers are supposed to know better.
The ABA seem to lack the fortitude & faith in the law preferring to hide from bogus possible lawsuits.
The membership of the ABA should be raising hell about why a group who allegedly represents them would pick the safe option of not saying what was true.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Something something image is more important that truth.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Something something image is more important that truth.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Something something image is more important that truth.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Something something image is more important that truth.
I might be willing to pay a local lawyer to take a reasonable case where the opposition has roughly the same legal resources I have.
But faced with the possibility of additionally paying for the $1K/hour attorneys for politically connected individuals, I would probably have no choice but to back down no matter how good my case was.
That would leave the legal bullies with a clear field to behave any way they wished.
And no, I have no solution. But I do wonder just how wide spread this problem really is, and how much of it is propaganda.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Something something image is more important that truth.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Something something image is more important that truth.
They could work to try and reform a very broken portion in the system thats supposed to be blind but is easily weighted with gold coins.
Imagine if a case was found to be frivolous and the lawyer actually got personally dinged... perhaps some of them might not be willing to represent someone like Trump bringing a case just to annoy.
But then they were to scared to call a bully a bully, I doubt they have the balls to change anything. Hell Steele still has a bar card & Hans can get his back in 4 yrs... certainly sounds like an upstanding system... extort people for "crimes" you created & facilitated, pocket millions, then use all the tricks of the trade to evade any punishment making sure the public finds new depths of hatred for lawyers.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Something something image is more important that truth.
Uh, they stand up and fight "against their brethren" just like football players do "against their brethren": when they are getting paid for it. Nothing personal in it. That's what they were trained to do.
Players quit a team because of the numbers on the paycheck, not because of the signature.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Even 1 out of every 5 dentists has the balls to not recommend Trident gum.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
One justice for you, one justice for me. Two justices for you, one, two justices for me. Three justices for you, one, two, three justices for me.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The ABA should welcome a lawsuit
Trump knows this, of course, and doesn't want of those people compelled to give testimony under oath. This is also why he won't sue any of the women that he sexually harassed or assaulted: the last thing in the world he wants is pre-trial discovery.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The ABA should welcome a lawsuit
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Of course, there is a bit of irony with keeping the indigenous "illegal immigrants" from beyond the Mexican border out of the U.S. with its basically European population.
But is there any point to bringing up "jew behaviors" these days apart from dealing in fascist nostalgia?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
TD commits libel bitching by about libel.
By declaring they are, you have declared that an defamatory act committed by one party was in fact attributed to another.
The A.B.A's duty is to the integrity and stewardship of the law. If they have individual views on the standards by which the law is executed, they are welcomed to individually run for office like anybody else. But they are by and large, an organization that defines protocols.
Being partisan as an organization, diffuses their own authority as much as it supports any given position. The A.B.A. was doing their DUTY by not getting involved. The fact that a couple of people went off a a tangent doesn't change that.
The ABA is like the IETF. TechDirt is like Microsoft. Yes you would like to fuck things up for your own purposes. We get it, and we understand you. We still disagree with you, and though we may think your being a dick, we generally will not let it get in the way of making sure that the system works.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: TD commits libel bitching by about libel.
TD commits libel
Well, that proves you're not a lawyer, so I don't think you actually represent the ABA.
By declaring they are, you have declared that an defamatory act committed by one party was in fact attributed to another.
That doesn't even make any sense.
The A.B.A's duty is to the integrity and stewardship of the law.
Huh? No, that's not the ABA's "duty." They don't have "stewardship of the law." It's an organization of lawyers. Not the law.
If they have individual views on the standards by which the law is executed, they are welcomed to individually run for office like anybody else.
You seem to be confusing legislative activities with the ABA... which is just... weird.
Being partisan as an organization, diffuses their own authority as much as it supports any given position.
Yes. If they were being partisan. They were not.
The ABA is like the IETF. TechDirt is like Microsoft.
I keep reading that over and over and over again and I still have no idea what this means.
Yes you would like to fuck things up for your own purposes.
Wha...?
We get it, and we understand you. We still disagree with you, and though we may think your being a dick, we generally will not let it get in the way of making sure that the system works.
The word you're looking for is "you're" not "your"
Also, don't say "we." Your comment proves you're not at all a lawyer.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: TD commits libel bitching by about libel.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: TD commits libel bitching by about libel.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: TD commits libel bitching by about libel.
Who is this "we" you speak of? Do you often refer to yourself in the plural sense?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
It Just Occurred to Me
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: It Just Occurred to Me
So... why not use such a thing to your advantage where possible?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: It Just Occurred to Me
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: It Just Occurred to Me
I don't think so. It has been shown over and over that lawyers have little to no understanding of the Streisand effect.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Shots fired
Lawyers can be so savage.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ABA Self-Interest?
Anti-SLAPP laws may instill more faith in the law, but they also would mean less work for lawyers, even if only slightly.
Maybe the ABA likes pointless legal machinations. They increase billable hours.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Mark Randazza over at Popehat has a different take on this story.
His point is: The ABA offered edits to her story, and she rejected it. But also that by playing the censorship angle, she made the issue a much bigger story than it would be otherwise. And that? That brings the point to a wider audience that we need federal anti-SLAPP legislation.
... or it would if people read her story, rather than just the "ABA wouldn't publish, OMG!" bit of it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]