The freedom of speech court case of NC Paleo-diet blogger Steve Cooksey, who I chronicled in my series Held Back by Red Tape, was dismissed by a Federal District Court for Western NC Magistrate Judge on October 9th. The Judge ruled that Mr. Cooksey did not have standing to bring the case as he had not suffered an “injury in fact traceable to the defendants conduct.”
Mr. Cooksey’s case is being handled by the public interest law firm, Institute for Justice, who responded in a press release:
“In America, citizens don’t have to wait until they are fined or thrown in jail before they are allowed to challenge government action that chills their speech,” said Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Jeff Rowes. “When the executive director of a government agency goes through your writing with a red pen and tells you on a line-by-line basis what you can and can’t say, that is censorship and the courts can hear that case.”
Lawyers for Mr. Cooksey have stated they plan on appealing the ruling. The Institute for Justice produced a short video about Steve Cooksey and his case earlier this year.
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