Alliance Writes Letter Urging DC Council to Preserve First Amendment Protections

On November 30, the Alliance and seven other national and local associations sent a letter to the DC Council opposing an Amendment to DC’s anti-SLAPP law under consideration. The Attorney General of DC Karl Racine requested an Amendment that the anti-SLAPP motion “shall not apply to any claim for relief brought by the District.” Meaning, if the District of Columbia ever uses the judicial system to sue someone based on their First Amendment activity, news publishers and private citizens would have no way to make an early motion to dismiss and would be forced to incur costly litigation expenses. We argue that the government should not be immune from these Anti-SLAPP motions, because accountability and protection of news publishers’ First Amendment rights should be preserved, and the government should not sacrifice speech for efficiency. Read the letter.