California SLAPP Law

The California Supreme Court has granted review and may be revisiting its holding that government actors are protected by the state’s anti-SLAPP statute. The Supreme Court’s proposal that government activity is protected by section 425.15 if the activity would be protected if done by a private actor has proven unworkable for the lower courts. In City of Montebello v. Vasquez the lower courts rejected the effort of government agents to assert the anti-SLAPP statute. The lower courts’ reasoning that voting by government officials should not be protected by the anti-SLAPP statute because it is not First Amendment activity did not go far enough. The better view is that no government conduct is First Amendment activity and no government activity warrants anti-SLAPP protections. Also, anti-SLAPP statutes – designed to protect petition and speech individual rights – should not be utilized by government actors against the private exercise of First Amendment rights. Here is a link to a recent law review article dissecting the problem with government use of anti-SLAPP statutes, in particular California’s section 425.16 ( Anti-SLAPP Confabulation and the Government Speech Doctrine ) : http://works.bepress.com/stevenjandre/19/