Losing our 1st Amendment rights in foreign courts

Senators Arlen Specter and Joe Lieberman write in the Wall Street Journal about foreign courts eroding our own rights to free speech with specious judgments against Americans;

 Under American law, a libel plaintiff must prove that defamatory material is false. In England, the burden is reversed. Disputed statements are presumed to be false unless proven otherwise. And the loser in the case must pay the winner’s legal fees.

Consequently, English courts have become a popular destination for libel suits against American authors. In 2003, U.S. scholar Rachel Ehrenfeld asserted in her book, “Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed and How to Stop It,” that Saudi banker Khalid Bin Mahfouz helped fund Osama bin Laden. The book was published in the U.S. by a U.S. company. But 23 copies were bought online by English residents, so English courts permitted the Saudi to file a libel suit there.

Ms. Ehrenfeld did not appear in court, so Mr. Bin Mahfouz won a $250,000 default judgment against her. He has filed or threatened to file at least 30 other suits in England

It also has stunted the spread of the Left’s writers as well as the Right;

Fear of a similar lawsuit forced Random House U.K. in 2004 to cancel publication of “House of Bush, House of Saud,” a best seller in the U.S. that was written by an American author.

So what do the Senators propose to remedy the problem?

To counter this lawsuit trend, we have introduced the Free Speech Protection Act of 2008, a Senate companion to a House bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Pete King (R., N.Y.) and co-sponsored by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D., N.Y.). This legislation builds on New York State’s “Libel Terrorism Protection Act,” signed into law by Gov. David Paterson on May 1.

Our bill bars U.S. courts from enforcing libel judgments issued in foreign courts against U.S. residents, if the speech would not be libelous under American law. The bill also permits American authors and publishers to countersue if the material is protected by the First Amendment. If a jury finds that the foreign suit is part of a scheme to suppress free speech rights, it may award treble damages.

For decades, our enemies, from Nazis to Communists to jihadists, have found ways to circumvent our laws by using our own Constitution against us. This looks like a good commonsense solution to plugging one hole in the dike. My senators will hear from me this morning, bright and early although I can’t imagine even a pair of partisans like Carden and Mikulski being against  this common sense protection of Americans’ rights.

Category: Foreign Policy, Legal, Politics, Terror War