First Amendment

The Free Speech Protection Act of 2008 has recently been introduced (H.R. 5814 and S.2977) to prevent an abusive tactic whereby individuals unable to silence their American critics in American courts will obtain judgments in foreign courts. Then seek to enforce the foreign money judgments, sometimes for large amounts, in American courts¹.

This needed federal legislation (H.R. 5814 and S.2977) will enable (encourage) free speaking Americans confronted with a foreign defamation, libel, slander, or other forms of speech suppressing judgments to test, in federal court, whether those judgments meet American Constitution, First Amendment standards.

If the federal court determines a judgment does not meet American Constitution, First Amendment standards, the court is permitted to enjoin its enforcement and award litigation costs, including treble damages.

This will reduce the abuses like those suffered by Rachel Ehrenfeld when a Saudi billionaire didn't like that Ehrenfeld (and our government) accused him of funding terrorism².

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1. Britain is often the jurisdiction of choice because its judicial system most parallels our own, except for speech law, where it is opposite ours.

Imagine Mahfouz obtaining a judgment against Ehrenfeld in Saudi Arabia, which follows Sharia Law (Islamic religious tenets enforced as law) and then coming to the United States to enforce that judgment.

No court in America (well maybe one in Texas or Kansas, somewhere) would enforce that judgment—why, because it's fundamentally inimical to our constitutional system—British court's judgments, in the area of speech, are fundamentally inimical to our constitutional system of laws.

2. See Toocan->First Rachel Ehrenfeld v. Khalid Salim Bin Mahfouz or American Center for Democracy for more information.

Fortunately, Ehrenfeld is not easily intimidated and recent legislation signed by the newly designated governor of New York shields her from Mahfouz's abuses, while she fearlessly pursues litigation and terrorism links with respect to Mahfouz (and others).