Get FREE BuzzFlash News Alerts

Email:  
Home

Randi Rhodes and Air America Win Big Court Victory Against Alleged "Torture" Contractor

Submitted by BuzzFlash on Thu, 08/07/2008 - 6:54am.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

August 7, 2008

Randi Rhodes and her former employer, Air America, won an important court victory against one of the alleged "torture" contractors under the Bush Administration.

CACI International had sued Rhodes (now with NovaM radio) and Air America for remarks she made about the alleged involvement of CACI "interrogators" in abuses at Abu Ghraib. 

CACI was seeking $11 million dollars for libel and defamation, focusing on 13 statements made by Rhodes when she was at Air America alleging that CACI employees participated in the torture, rape and killing that had occurred at the notorious U.S. "prison" in Iraq.

In what is considered a "conservative" federal appeals court, a three judge panel ruled that Rhodes was well within her First Amendment rights in making her comments about CACI:

"Rhodes's criticism of CACI's role and conduct was unbridled, caustic, and indignant," Judge M. Blane Michael wrote. But the right to speak freely is an "essential privilege" that "minimizes the danger of self-censorship on the part of those who would criticize, thus allowing robust debate about the actions of public officials and public figures (including military contractors such as CACI) who are conducting the country's business."

A district course judge had earlier dismissed CACI's lawsuit as groundless and without merit.  CACI appealed and its claim resoundingly rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond (4th Circuit).

A key feature of libel is a finding that an individual or organization made statements out of malice or reckless disregard for the truth.  Both the original district court judge and the court of appeals found that neither of these criteria applied to the comments about CACI made by Rhodes when she was still with Air America.

The ciruit court decision in favor of Rhodes and Air America was made on August 5 and was unanimous.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

 

 

Technorati Tags:Technorati Tags:

»

Whewwww.....

Submitted by demo2006 on Sun, 08/10/2008 - 2:42pm.
What a relief it is to know that Free Speech still has a pulse. Perhaps we'll make it though 2008 after all.
»

I'm disgusted that in this

Submitted by Faye_Harris77 on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 12:17am.

I'm disgusted that in this day and age, abuses still occur. That interrogatories are not done with human rights in mind is terrible. Although I think that whoever leaked it should be commended.

»

Oh God!

Submitted by bettysdad on Sat, 08/09/2008 - 3:36pm.
As if Randi doesn't talk about herself enough now.
»

So - CACI Tries the Right-Wing Bush-Choosing Supreme Court Now?

Submitted by drprodny on Thu, 08/07/2008 - 10:58am.
Hey - CACI couldn't intimidate Air America w/lower courts. Where does a loyal Bushstepping torturing Ammurikan Big Bidness get the justice it wants, anyway?

I'm reminded of an old Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs swears to take a case against Elmer to "the Highest Court in the Land!" - the next scene is Bugs climbing a mountain to a building titled "Highest Court" and asking "Maybe I shoulda started w/a lower court...."
»

Isn't going to the SCT

Submitted by grolaw on Thu, 08/07/2008 - 2:53pm.

The 4th and 3rd Circuits are, by far, the most conservative - followed by the 5th and 11th. Where the 4th tells CACI to shove it - the SCT is not about to take Cert. And, thanks to Rehnquist's work, there is no "direct appeal" available - the Court has to Grant Certiorari or the case ends and Cert. takes a majority vote.

Consider the problem: accept Cert and hammer Randi, AA & NovaM (by distracting Randi with the SCT case) unless the holding is so narrow that it only applies to Randi and CACI then you have problems with Fox, Limbaugh, et al., ad nauseum because the SCT reversal would open the floodgates for defamation suits against the Savage Right Wingnuts.

Not going to happen.

"In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying."
- Bertrand Russell -

»

Grolaw. thanks for that

Submitted by drprodny on Thu, 08/07/2008 - 9:09pm.
I wasn't sure on the procedure - I thought it was either side's right to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court if they wished to take the time and money, though the Supreme Court is under no obligation to revisit a lower court's ruling.

OTOH, I DO find the possibility of precedent being set for defamation suits against Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Coulter, Murdoch et al to be an Odd Pretty Sort of Thing.... :D
»