PPP Policy Director Evan Mascagni published an op-ed in today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch advocating for anti-SLAPP legislation in Virginia:
“Perhaps no person in the history of American politics has framed the importance of advocating for individual liberties better than Thomas Paine, one of our nation’s Founding Fathers.
In his pamphlet, “Common Sense,” Paine made a clear and decisive argument that Americans must seek independence and pursue freedom.
“Man did not enter into society to become worse than he was before, not to have fewer rights than he had before,” Paine wrote, “but to have those rights better secured.”
Sen. Glen Sturtevant Jr. and Del. Terry Kilgore have introduced important legislation in Richmond to protect the free expression and speech of Virginians (SB 1413 and HB 1941, respectively), and they need the support of their colleagues to advance it without delay. Paine’s words resonate now more than ever. Virginia lawmakers have an opportunity to secure one of the most sacred rights: the right to freely express how you feel and say what you believe without fear of reprisal.”
Read more at the Richmond Times-Dispatch here.