Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty has filed an appeal on behalf of Scarlett Johnson, a Wisconsin Moms for Liberty Activist, who is being sued for defamation for criticizing her school district on social media for employing a “social justice coordinator.” WILL says it filed this appeal because, quote, Ms. Johnson’s posts are protected by the First Amendment, and she should not have to endure a costly, pointless, and incoherent jury trial.
This situation is instructive. Now we have employees in a Wisconsin public school district attempting to bully citizens into silence if they publicly disagree with a district’s hiring decision. This is a frivolous lawsuit with one intention: to scare citizens from speaking up. Expressing a critical opinion in a social media post isn’t defamation; it’s free speech.
