Congressman Cohen Introduces Legislation to End "Libel Tourism"
“Libel tourism threatens to undermine the principles of free speech because foreign courts often don’t place as difficult a burden on plaintiffs in libel cases,” said Congressman Cohen. “My bill would prohibit domestic courts from recognizing or enforcing foreign defamation judgments unless the domestic court finds that the foreign judgment comports with our First Amendment.”
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has applauded Congressman Cohen’s legislation, and the bill has already received bipartisan support in the House Judiciary Committee (which has jurisdiction over the bill). The bipartisan legislation was cosponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (MI-14), Judiciary Committee members Congressmen Berman (CA-28), Coble (NC-06), Gutierrez (IL-04), Issa (CA-49), Jackson-Lee (TX-18), Johnson (GA-04), Lofgren (CA-16), Nadler (NY-08) and Wexler (FL-19), as well as Congressmen Udall (CO-02) and Yarmuth (KY-03).
The issue of libel tourism has gotten a good deal of attention as a result of the case of Ehrenfeld v. bin Mahfouz, which involved a U.S. author who was sued for libel in England by a Saudi billionaire. The author, Rachel Ehrenfeld, was unsuccessful in her effort to have an English default judgment against her declared unenforceable in the U.S. This prompted the New York State Legislature to enact legislation – the first of its kind in the U.S. – prohibiting enforcement of a foreign libel judgment unless a court in New York determines that it satisfies the free speech and press protections guaranteed by the U.S. and the New York State constitutions. Nonetheless, the Governor of New York noted when signing that bill into law that ultimately, Congress needed to address this issue at the national level.
AAP President & CEO Pat Schroeder said, “We’re encouraged and gratified that Congress is focusing attention on the serious problem of libel tourism. We’ve supported Rachel Ehrenfeld in her court battles and lobbied hard for passage of the New York ‘Libel Terrorism Protection Act.’ Now we’d like to see the fight taken to another level with enactment of federal legislation.”
Congressman Cohen added, “I am very pleased with the broad-based support we have received with this common sense legislation to protect Americans from foreign courts impeding on their rights to free speech and freedom of the press. We have our First Amendment protections in place for a reason, and there is no way that the American people will tolerate any erosion of those rights through decisions made in courtrooms outside U.S. jurisdiction.”
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