Re: Daily Kos had its day in court. It didn't go our way. (Important: please read)

Friend, I wanted to follow up from the email I sent yesterday about the lawsuit Robert F. Kennedy, Jr has filed against Daily Kos. It is really important that we fight for our First Amendment rights and protect anonymous political speech. [Can you please donate $5 to support our legal efforts to protect the anonymity of our Daily Kos users and stand up to this dangerous conspiracy theorist?]( It is apparent that New York law on protecting anonymous speech is well behind other states such as my home state of California. In New York, the courts have so far seen no harm in revealing the identity of an anonymous political commentator, because she or he can directly wage a traditional defamation defense against Kennedy. Therefore, supposedly, no free speech issues are affected. The argument we are making in New York, and we hope to make new good law on this, is that anonymous political speech must be protected, especially against the likes of Kennedy who, by all accounts except his own, is waging this battle to bully and stifle the most vulnerable of his critics. Indeed, he hasn’t sued any of the news organizations that reported on his participation in a rally organized and attended by Nazis. He hasn’t sued me for repeating every claim made by the pseudonymous blogger. To be clear: there is zero chance Kennedy would win a traditional defamation case against the diarist. Zero. Not only is the community story in question 100% accurate and true, but even if it wasn’t, public figures have an impossibly high bar to meet in defamation cases. This is only about financially and legally punishing a critic, not about winning any defamation suit. I’d bet my firstborn that if Kennedy learned the identity of this writer, he’d never bother following up with an actual defamation lawsuit. It would be a fool’s errand, and he’s no fool. He’s evil and dangerous, but he’s no fool. [To help fund our legal efforts against this dangerous, murderous conspiracy theorist, please click here.]( [Public Citizen has joined us in this fight by providing legal representation pro-bono for the community writer at the center of this case. Please consider making a donation to support their work.]( Thank you, Markos Moulitsas, Founder Daily Kos --------------------------------------------------------------- Friend, a month or so ago, I first wrote about the lawsuit Daily Kos is defending against dangerous anti-vaxxer Robert Kennedy, Jr., who is trying to force us to reveal the identity of a pseudonymous community writer who criticized his participation in a Berlin rally organized and attended by Nazis. I have an important update to that email that I want to share, but first I have to ask: [Can you please donate $5 to support our legal efforts to protect the anonymity of our Daily Kos users and stand up to this dangerous conspiracy theorist?]( To recap: Kennedy isn’t content just spreading dangerous, life-threatening misinformation and lies […] Kennedy has sued Daily Kos to unmask the identity of a community diarist for writing a story attacking him for attending an anti-mask rally in Berlin that was heavily planned, promoted, and attended by Nazis. And Daily Kos [lost the first legal round]( in court, thanks to a judge who is apparently unconcerned with First Amendment ramifications given the chilling effect of her ruling. The full case history, and all filings, can be found [here](. Here is [my affidavit]( expressing why it’s important for Daily Kos to protect the pseudonymity of its community, boiling down to this simple conclusion: “It is essential that Daily Kos take all efforts to ensure that a registered user may maintain anonymity. This is because some of the participants in our community would be subject to adverse treatment, for example in the workplace, and in some instances even physical harm to themselves and their family if their Daily Kos identity was revealed.” We take that seriously, which is why we’ve been fighting this case and will continue to do so. We lost the first round in a New York court. Since that first story was written, we have appealed the decision to New York’s Appellate Division, Second Department, and requested a stay pending consideration of our appeal. That “stay motion” is being briefed in the next few weeks and should be decided by the New York Court in the early Fall. In the meantime, we made an application for a temporary restraining order (a TRO) to put everything on hold while the Court considers our stay motion. Surprisingly, the single appellate judge assigned to decide such things on that particular day made his decision in a matter of hours and denied our request. [To help fund our legal efforts against this dangerous, murderous conspiracy theorist, please click here.]( While the denial of our request for a TRO was made without any written decision, it is apparent that New York law on protecting anonymous speech is well behind other states such as my home state of California. In New York, the Courts have so far seen no harm in revealing the identity of an anonymous political commentator, because she or he can directly wage a traditional defamation defense against Kennedy. Therefore, supposedly, no free speech issues are affected. The argument we are making in New York, and we hope to make new good law on this, is that anonymous political speech must be protected, especially against the likes of Kennedy who by all accounts except his own is waging this battle to bully and stifle the most vulnerable of his critics. Indeed, he hasn’t sued any of the news organizations that reported on his participation in a rally organized and attended by Nazis. He hasn’t sued me for repeating those claims. This whole case exists because for whatever reason, perhaps even simple paranoia, Kennedy needs to know the identity of everyone who criticizes him on the internet. This case is about using the courts to dox a critic, nothing more, nothing less. And at least as of today, New York law simply refuses to see it. As our lawyer wrote in our appeals brief, this is a matter of first impression for New York Courts, and it is time for New York to adopt safeguards against the very doxing we are seeing here. [Please help fund our legal efforts against this dangerous, murderous, conspiracy theorist, please click here.]( [Also consider a donation to Public Citizen, who is providing pro-bono representation for the community writer. They are a great ally to have in this fight.]( Thank you, Markos Moulitsas, Founder Daily Kos P.S. You can read more about the legal case [here](. If you wish to donate by mail instead, please send a check to Daily Kos, PO Box 70036, Oakland, CA, 94612. Contributions to Daily Kos are not tax deductible. (Please note that we may be slow to process checks during the coronavirus outbreak.) Sent via [ActionNetwork.org](. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Daily Kos, please [click here](.