This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
An appeals court in Wisconsin has canceled a defamation trial for a Moms for Liberty activist who reacted to a school district's paid position of "social justice coordinator" with criticism.
The case on behalf of Scarlett Johnson was handled by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, which took the case to the appeals level even before a trial, and obtained an order that it be dismissed.
WILL lawyer Luke Berg said, "Scarlett, like all of us, has the right to question and criticize her government. The defamation lawsuit against her was meritless and should have been promptly dismissed. We are pleased that the court agreed and that Scarlett can put this distraction behind her."
Johnson, in a statement released through her counsel, said, "Free speech belongs to every mom, dad, and citizen who demands answers and accountability from their government."
The state Court of Appeals had ruled that her statements were not defamation.
"We conclude that Johnson's statements do not constitute defamation, thus, we reverse and remand for the circuit court to enter summary judgment in Johnson's favor," the appeals court said.
WILL reported, "The initial lawsuit involved a defamation claim for run-of-the-mill social media posts on X and Facebook. The posts in question criticized a school district for having a 'social justice coordinator,' and described people who hold such positions as 'woke,' 'white savior[s]' with a 'god complex,' 'woke lunatics,' and 'bullies.'"
WILL pointed out such comments are pervasive on social media and in fact were more restrained than a lot of online speech.
The plaintiff who sued previously had held that title.
"WILL stepped in to file an early appeal to avoid a costly and non-sensical defamation trial for First Amendment protected speech. We argued, and the court agreed, that for statements to be actionable for defamation, they must be 'provably false.'"
The court returned the case to the trial court with instructions to dismiss.
The ruling pointed out, "The terms 'god complex,' 'woke,' and 'white savior' are vague and do not have a clear meaning or definition. For example, some Americans define 'wokeness' as 'being informed, educated on, and aware of social injustices;' other Americans use it to mean 'being overly politically correct and policing others' words.' We are not persuaded that the terms are definitive enough to allow a jury to determine whether these terms are true or false.
