Senate Passes Cohen Speech Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives today passed for the second time this Congress legislation Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) authored – the Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage (SPEECH) Act – that protects American authors, journalists and publishers from foreign defamation judgments that undermine the First Amendment and American due process standards. The measure, which the Senate amended and passed last week, now heads to President Obama to be signed into law.
“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. “I believe our First Amendment rights to be among the most sacred principles laid out in the Constitution. It is vital we ensure that these rights are never undermined by foreign judgments. I appreciate Senators Leahy and Sessions for their dedication and assistance on this important topic.”
“Libel tourism” is a recent phenomenon that exploits defamation laws in foreign countries in an attempt to silence or intimidate American journalists, authors and publishers. The issue of libel tourism came to the forefront 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 New York State constitutions.
Last year Congressman Cohen – who chairs the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law – chaired a hearing where Dr. Ehrenfeld testified. The Congressman’s legislation passed the House of Representatives last year. The bill was modified by the Senate and approved today. It must now be reconsidered in the House before going to President Obama’s desk for signature. The Senate sponsors of the measure are Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (Vermont) and Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (Alabama).
The House is expected to consider the SPEECH Act soon. The measure is supported by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Vermont Library Association, the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers, the American Civil Liberties Union, renowned First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, and the former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, James Woolsey.