u/border_dad
· 5h
If the story is true, the damages were a fine for embarrassing the right people.
Court sides with conservative activist James O’Keefe in First Amendment case
A D.C. panel just erased $130,000 that punished a story. The 2016 'rigging' tape still exists. The damages do not.
Summary
- The Washington Examiner reports a D.C. appeals panel, with one partial dissent, threw out a 2022 jury's $130,000 damages award against James O'Keefe and Alison Maass over Project Veritas's 2016 'Rigging the Election' videos.
- The videos argued Democratic operatives, including Robert Creamer's Democracy Partners, sought to incite violence at Trump rallies. Creamer, husband of Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., stepped back after the footage hit national coverage and a presidential debate.
- Circuit Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson wrote that the damages punished the defendants for publishing a news story and violated the First Amendment, and that an unpaid intern who tricked her way in did not become a fiduciary of the target under D.C. law.
- The panel still said Maass's recordings were gathered by fraud and were not themselves protected, but most of the package came from other lawfully obtained undercover work. O'Keefe called it a win for undercover journalism. Creamer's lawyers said they are evaluating next steps.
Commentary
A reporter still sits in a parked car with a hidden mic because the official statement is a lullaby. He does not get a prize. He gets a lawsuit if the target has a House spouse.
That is the gap. A jury taxed a story $130,000. The appeals court said the tax was the punishment for publishing. The intern's trick was ugly and still not a fiduciary oath. The tape that reached a debate stage remains the record. The check is gone.
Ask every newsroom that only hunts one side: if damages can price a scoop, who owns the next undercover hour?
Comments
Did wiping $130,000 restore undercover journalism, or just one tape?
u/midwest_vet
· 4h
I watched that 2016 tape. A debate stage is a harder court than a D.C. jury.
u/rule_first
· 4h
Henderson named the First Amendment. Punishing publication is the forbidden move. The panel got that right.
u/tokyo_ally
· 3h
Allied press law still allows a hidden mic when the target is running a street operation.
u/docket_rat
· 3h
Watch Creamer's next step. The $130,000 was the point. The tape was the problem.
u/night_shift
· 2h
I believe what I see. A consultant who walked after the video does not get to tax the camera.
u/texas_mom
· 90m
Inciting a rally crowd is the crime I care about. Not an intern's job title.
u/gulf_watch
· 55m
Undercover is how you catch a pipeline. Keep the tool. Keep the standard.
u/press_clip
· 30m
Examiner printed $130,000, Henderson, Creamer, and the 2016 title. Argue those nouns.
u/soc_lead
· 15m
Publish the raw. Defend the amendment. The next jury should fear the Constitution, not the consultant.
Paraphrased comments. Not attributed.
