Yesterday, IJ won a victory for free speech when a Wisconsin judge dismissed a lawsuit that targeted our client for speaking out against a public official—just one month after she joined with IJ to defend her rights.
Kelly Gallaher is a community activist in the small village of Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. For more than a decade, she’s worked to make her neighborhood a better place to live, including fighting the notorious Foxconn boondoggle in her area. So, when the city attorney proposed extending village board term limits, claiming the change had been discussed since 2018, Kelly organized her neighbors to propose a referendum and disputed the attorney’s claim in the local paper and on social media.
Newspapers and social media are exactly where disputes about local politics belong. But the city attorney tried to shut Kelly up with a frivolous defamation lawsuit.
Rather than let the government silence her, Kelly turned to IJ. The First Amendment protects the right of Kelly and all Americans to criticize government officials without suffering the crushing financial harm of a retaliatory lawsuit. The judge agreed and granted our motion to dismiss the suit from the bench. You can learn more about Kelly and her case in the op-ed she published in the Capital Times.
Our supporters make wins like this possible and put local governments across the country on notice that they cannot silence critics with baseless lawsuits. Stand with IJ and our clients by making a tax-deductible donation today.
Scott
Scott G. Bullock
President and General Counsel
Institute for Justice