Source: The UnPopulist
by Ken White
“Most defamation claims ultimately fail, and almost none of them reach trial. But winning often isn’t the point. The point is inflicting ruinous expense and suffering on the defendants and soliciting attention, support, and sometimes fundraising for the plaintiffs. It works. That’s why you see rich and powerful people increasingly abusing defamation lawsuits — sometimes dressed up unconvincingly as fraud lawsuits — to harass political enemies. This is a grave threat to free speech and the people who do it — like Donald Trump and Elon Musk — are ascendant. … There is no easy solution to this power deferential. But we can make things substantially more level by passing a federal anti-SLAPP statute that’ll make it easier not just to fight bogus speech-chilling cases in federal court but even deter them.” (02/11/25)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/america-desperately-needs-a-national