Policy Primer: Anti-SLAPP Legislation and the 1st Amendment

Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP) are a tool often used to intimidate or silence critics with expensive legal proceedings. Governments, companies, or individuals may use lawsuits, or even the threat of a lawsuit, to punish those who have exercised their First Amendment rights. Plaintiffs do not file SLAPP suits with any intention to win them. Anti-SLAPP laws aim to prevent these unnecessary and often costly lawsuits that have no objective other than to waste opponents’ money and to intimidate them, especially as these lawsuits can have a chilling effect on constitutionally-protected speech. However, anti-SLAPP legislation must be tailored to allow legitimate lawsuits to continue, while preventing abuses of the system.

Check out our newest policy primer on SLAPP lawsuits and what the state of Kentucky must do to protect the rights of our citizens.

Check out our newest policy primer HERE