In CNN Free Speech/Bias Case, Calif. Considers SLAPP’s Reach (1)

California Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical of CNN arguments that the state’s anti-SLAPP statute, which protects free speech rights in matters of public interest, should defeat a black ex-producer’s discrimination and retaliation lawsuit.

The acronym SLAPP stands for “strategic lawsuits against public participation.” Under the statute, a defendant in California arguing that a lawsuit is infringing its free speech rights can ask a court to dismiss the lawsuit on that basis.

Justices during an hourlong hearing May 7 questioned CNN’s arguments that the court need not balance First Amendment principles against civil rights interests to determine whether the anti-SLAPP statute ...