Eric Goldman, Professor of Law and Co-Director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School, has been joined by 58 law professors in writing to Congress urging enactment a Federal anti-SLAPP law – the SPEAK FREE Act. Details of the legislation and signing professors are below.
Securing Participation, Engagement, and Knowledge Freedom by
Reducing Egregious Efforts (“SPEAK FREE”) Act of 2015 Summary
- Amends the federal judicial code to allow a person against whom a lawsuit is asserted to file a special motion to dismiss claims referred to as strategic lawsuits against public participation (“SLAPP suits”) that arise from an oral or written statement or other expression, or conduct in furtherance of such expression, by the defendant in connection with an official proceeding or about a matter of public concern.
- Defines “matter of public concern” as an issue related to: (1) health or safety; (2) environmental, economic, or community well-being; (3) the government; (4) a public official or public figure; or (5) a good, product, or service in the marketplace.
- Requires courts to grant such a special motion to dismiss if the party filing the motion makes a prima facie showing that the claim asserted against them is a SLAPP suit, unless the responding party demonstrates that the claim is likely to succeed on the merits.
- Provides exceptions prohibiting courts from granting such a special motion to dismiss if the claim concerns: (i) a government enforcement action; (ii) a business making representations of fact in commercial speech to consumers about its own or a business competitor’s goods or services, or (iii) a public interest claim on behalf of the general public.
- Allows dismissal of private suits, notwithstanding such commercial speech and public interest exceptions, if the claim is against: (i) a person or entity engaged in activities to disseminate or express ideas to the public in a book or academic journal; (ii) any person or entity based upon statements or conduct concerning the creation, dissemination, exhibition, advertisement, or other promotion of journalistic, consumer commentary, dramatic, literary, musical, political, or artistic works, including motion pictures, television programs, or articles published online or in a newspaper or magazine of general circulation; or (iii) a nonprofit organization that receives more than 50% of annual revenue grants or awards from, programs of, or reimbursements for services rendered to the government.
Signing Professors
- Donald K. Anton – University of Colorado School of Law (Distinguished Visiting
Scholar) - David Ardia – University of North Carolina School of Law
- Timothy K. Armstrong – University of Cincinnati College of Law
- Hope Babcock – Georgetown University Law Center
- Derek E. Bambauer – University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law
- Jane Bambauer – University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law
- Sandra S. Baron – Yale Law School’s Information Society Project and Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression (Senior Fellow)
- Jeremy Bock – The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law
- John E. Bonine – University of Oregon School of Law
- Michael C. Blumm – Lewis and Clark Law School
- Annemarie Bridy – University of Idaho College of Law
- John C. Brittain – David A. Clarke School of Law School, University of the District
of Columbia - Brandon Butler – American University Washington College of Law (Practitioner-inResidence)
- Dr. Irene Calboli – Texas A&M University School of Law
- Megan M. Carpenter – Texas A&M University School of Law
- Michael A. Carrier- Rutgers Law School
- Colleen Chien – Santa Clara University School of Law
- Philip E. Cleary – University of Massachusetts School of Law
- Juscelino F. Colares – Case Western Reserve University School of Law
- Rebecca Curtin – Suffolk University School of Law
- Frank Deale – CUNY Law School
- Myanna Dellinger – University of South Dakota School of Law
- Frances S. Fendler – University of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen School of Law
- A. Michael Froomkin – University of Miami School of Law
- Brian L. Frye – University of Kentucky College of Law
- Deborah Gerhardt – University of North Carolina School of Law
- Dale D. Goble – University of Idaho College of Law
- Leah Chan Grinvald – Suffolk University Law School
- Hugh C. Hansen – Fordham University School of Law
- Yaniv Heled – Georgia State University College of Law
- Robert A. Heverly – Albany Law School
- Oliver A. Houck – Tulane Law School
- David Hricik – Mercer Law School
- William S. Jordan, III – The University of Akron School of Law
- Jessica M. Kiser – Gonzaga University School of Law
- Mae Kuykendall – Michigan State University College of Law
- Stacey M. Lantagne – The University of Mississippi School of Law
- Mark A. Lemley – Stanford Law School
- David S. Levine – Elon University School of Law
- Lyrissa Lidsky – University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law
- Yvette Joy Liebesman – Saint Louis University School of Law
- Ryke Longest Nicholas – School of the Environment, Duke School of Law
- Brian J. Love Santa Clara University School of Law
- Daniel R. Mandelker – Washington University in Saint Louis School of Law
- James Edward Maule – Villanova University School of Law
- Stephen M. Maurer Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley
- Stephen McJohn S- uffolk University Law School
- Joel A. Mintz Nova – Southeastern University College of Law
- Ira Steven Nathenson St. Thomas University School of Law
- Lisa Ramsey – University of San Diego School of Law
- Robert D. Richards – Pennsylvania Center for the First Amendment, Penn State University
- Jorge R. Roig – Charleston School of Law
- Pamela Samuelson – UC Berkeley School of Law
- Jessica Silbey – Northeastern University School of Law
- Joshua M. Silverstein – University of Arkansas at Little Rock, William H. Bowen School of Law
- Robert N. Strassfeld – Case Western Reserve University School of Law
- Catherine Tucker – MIT Sloan School of Management
- Rebecca Tushnet – Georgetown University Law Center
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