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A newspaper beat a libel lawsuit filed by a politician – using a law that some politicians want to weaken
By Jason Garcia
Seeking Rents
June 28, 2024
The Orlando Sentinel invoked a legal shield to defeat a defamation claim made by a local lawmaker. Gov. Ron DeSantis and some other Republicans in Tallahassee keep trying to take that shield away.
Earlier this year, Carolina Amesty, a Republican state representative from central Florida, sued the Orlando Sentinel.
Amesty claimed that the newspaper had defamed her. But she pretty quickly backed down after the Sentinel invoked a longstanding state law meant to stop powerful people from filing flimsy lawsuits just to silence speech they don’t like.
The episode is an example of how Florida deters what are commonly known as “SLAPP” suits — an acronym that stands for “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation” and a type of suit that can be filed against everyone from neighborhood activists fighting a toxic landfill to a news and comedy show exposing coal industry corruption.
But some Florida politicians want to unravel those protections. Over the past three years, Republicans in Tallahassee ranging from Gov. Ron DeSantis to certain state legislators have proposed changes that would sabotage Florida’s anti-SLAPP laws.
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Texas councilwoman can sue over arrest she claims was politically motivated, Supreme Court rules
By John Fritze
CNN
June 20, 2024
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed a Texas woman who served on a small-town council to continue her lawsuit against her mayor after she was arrested for what she claims were political reasons.
In an unsigned opinion, the high court said a federal appeals court took an “overly cramped view” of an earlier precedent that control when people may sue for First Amendment retaliation claims. Justice Clarence Thomas authored the only public dissent.
Sylvia Gonzalez was arrested in 2019 shortly after she took her seat as a council member in Castle Hills, Texas, following a campaign in which she heavily criticized the city manager.
Gonzalez, then 72, was arrested for stealing a government document at a council meeting – a charge that stemmed from what she said was an inadvertent shuffling of papers and what city officials said may have been motivated by a cover-up.
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A Florida Man Was Arrested for Filming Marion County Sheriff's Deputies. Now He's Suing.
By CJ Ciaramella
Reason
June 19, 2024
Numerous federal appeals courts have ruled that filming police is protected under the First Amendment, but police continue to illegally arrest people for it.
A Florida man has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit three years after a Marion County sheriff's deputy arrested him for filming officers from a public sidewalk.
In 2021, Marion County Sheriff's Deputy Neil Rosaci arrested George Nathansen and charged him with obstruction of justice for refusing to follow his orders to leave the scene of an investigation. However, body camera footage showed Nathansen standing at least 30 feet away on a public sidewalk before Rosaci walked over and handcuffed him.
In Nathansen's lawsuit, filed last Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, he alleges that Rosaci and the Marion County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) violated his Fourth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights by falsely arresting and incarcerating him.
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Los Angeles will pay $300,000 to settle a lawsuit against journalist over undercover police photos
By Jaimie Ding
Associated Press
June 17, 2024
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles has agreed to pay $300,000 to cover the legal fees of a local journalist and a technology watchdog group that had been sued by the city last year for publishing photos of names and photographs of hundreds of undercover officers obtained through a public records request, the journalist’s attorney said Monday.
The photos’ release prompted huge backlash from Los Angeles police officers and their union, alleging that it compromised safety for those working undercover and in other sensitive assignments, such as investigations involving gangs, drugs and sex traffickers. The city attorney’s subsequent lawsuit against Ben Camacho, a journalist for progressive news outlet Knock LA at the time, and the watchdog group Stop LAPD Spying Coalition drew condemnation from media rights experts and a coalition of newsrooms, including The Associated Press, as an attack on free speech and press freedoms.
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How a Christian group crafted Miami school board policy
By Sommer Brugal
Axios Miami
June 18, 2024
Liberty Counsel, an advocacy group that promotes a "historically Christian and biblical" worldview, helped write the Miami-Dade School Board's policy for opening invocations at meetings.
Why it matters: Public education advocates say conservative officials are increasingly pushing Christian ideals in Florida schools.
- Liberty Counsel, which describes itself as a ministry and legal advocacy organization, is classified as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Driving the news: The Liberty Counsel's role in crafting the policy wasn't publicly disclosed, but it surfaced in emails recently obtained by national progressive watchdog group True North Research.
- The emails, shared with Axios, show that representatives of Liberty Counsel and the Christian Family Coalition sent board member Roberto Alonso another district's "legislative prayer policy" in early May 2023.
Catch up quick: Alonso proposed the new invocation policy that month, and the board approved it in August.
- At the time, Alonso said an invocation would set a positive tone for the meeting and "bring to light" the diversity in the school district, but supporters who spoke largely espoused the Christian faith.
- The policy largely echoed the language provided to him by the two Christian groups, which had previously been adopted by Okaloosa County.
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