Why not take a ‘slap’ at Trump’s favorite legal tactic?
From Jason Linkins at Huffington Post:
According to reports, Republican legislators are having an uneasy time cottoning to the notion that real estate developer and white-supremacist cuddle muppet Donald Trump seems to be on the glide path to becoming their party’s standard-bearer. Many have declared their intention to not support Trump under any circumstances. Many more fret about how a Trump nomination might adversely affect their party’s opportunities down the ticket.
It’s safe to say that there’s not a lot of love for Trump on Capitol Hill. But what if I told you that those lawmakers can do something, right now, to give an outlet to their Trump antipathy and make the world a better place to boot? Because I can think of one thing they can do: pass a federal law protecting people from strategic lawsuits against public participation, more colloquially known as SLAPP suits.
What is a SLAPP suit? Basically, it’s a lawsuit designed to chill free expression, in which a deep-pocketed litigant sues their critics knowing that even if they don’t have a good case on the merits, the mere process of having to participate in the court battle could financially exhaust the defendant. Such lawsuits favor large corporations and wealthy plaintiffs, even when their cases are entirely frivolous. It’s a very good way to deprive anyone without plutocratic financial reach of their free speech rights without actually having to win an argument.
And Donald Trump? He loves him some SLAPP suits.
Read the full article from the Huffington Post here.