Friend –

It took 26 years, but we finally have a law in Iowa that will address frivolous lawsuits designed to intimidate and silence newspapers, media outlets, activists, and others.

Called SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation), these meritless lawsuits are designed to grind their targets legally into the ground with prolonged and expensive litigation. But Monday, Governor Kim Reynolds signed House File 472, which makes it easier for defendants to ask a judge to dismiss these meritless lawsuits earlier on, saving them potentially tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal defense bills. The new law still allows people who believe that they have been publicly libeled or otherwise misrepresented to file a lawsuit, but it will help prevent many of those lawsuits filed only in order to silence critics.

First Amendment advocates have been working for a long time to get this law passed:

• In 1999, we defended a Des Moines neighborhood activist who spoke out at a city council meeting about a local rental property owner's documented violations of property codes. The owner sued, and the individual had to pay legal fees to defend herself. That same year, we lobbied for anti-SLAPP legislation in the Iowa Legislature.
• In 2017, the family-owned Carroll newspaper nearly had to shut down after it accurately reported on a local police officer, who pleaded guilty to inappropriate relationships with teenage girls. It was hit with a SLAPP lawsuit and incurred $150,000 in legal expenses before the judge was able to finally rule in its favor.
• In 2021, we filed an amicus brief in support of a Sloan-area man who was sued after describing a local rental property owner on Facebook as a "piece of shit" and a "slumlord." It ended up in front of the Iowa Supreme Court.

It's critical to a free and just society that people and the media can engage in protected speech about injustice and corruption where they see it, without worrying that they will incur unfair, crushing legal fees. We're delighted that Iowa joins dozens of other states in protecting free speech, freedom of the press, and the freedom to speak out against injustice.

With gratitude,

Mark Stringer
Pronouns: He, him, his
Executive Director, ACLU of Iowa