Does the First Amendment protect a blogger who publishes a falsehood and characterizes that statement as fact?

A blogger, not coincidentally my ex-wife, has created a blog for the purpose of interferring with my personal and professional life. Not surprisingly, many of the statements in her blog are either completely false, formed together to create a flase impression or simply are irrelevant statements designed to promote an inapplicable theory.





I have a restraining order against her for the blogs. She admitted in the court proceedings regarding the restraining order to creating the blog to harm me - personally and professionally.





The Judge ordered the restraining order, only in part due to the harassing nature of the blog. However, the Judge did not explicitly order her to remove the blog - only calling them harassing.





We are returning to Court Friday because she not only has not removed the blog, but conmtinues to post to it. She is asserting her First Amendment rights. I am looking for authoritative support that the First Amendment does not protect bloggers that tell lies.

Does the First Amendment protect a blogger who publishes a falsehood and characterizes that statement as fact?
The first amendment protects your right to place information for public view. however the first amendment dose not protect if the information is slanderous and inaccurate. that is the purpose of slander and defamation laws.


ayfr
Reply:I think your wife will win if she challenges it . We have had problems with employees doing this when they become disgruntled and there is not much that can be done. Our legal has challenged and lost it.
Reply:That's libel, which is against the law.
Reply:You can probably sue her in civil court for "defamation of character". You've got the court record from the restraining order ruling as evidence to submit in civil court.
Reply:It's true that it is libel, which is illegal. However, if you went to court with the sole purpose of obtaining a restraining order, the judge does not necessarily have to demand that she remove/discontinue her blog.





That may require a new legal process. I wish you luck with this, as it seems like you're having some undeserved bad luck. If you can't get her blog taken down legally, you could always make your own blog against her.... Not that you would feel good about yourself stooping to her level.
Reply:You will only get somewhere if you can PROVE that she is lieing. For example, if she says you hit her 3 years ago during a fight, without a witness or video to prove otherwise, there is not much you can do.
Reply:If you can show actual damages based on false statements deliberately and knowingly made by her you go a case.
Reply:I think you will have to sue her for damages in order to get her to stop.
Reply:no, libel and defamation of character are not protected speech.





http://www.medialaw.org/Content/Navigati...





http://www.expertlaw.com/library/persona...





Typically, the elements of a cause of action for defamation include:





A false and defamatory statement concerning another;


The unprivileged publication of the statement to a third party (that is, somebody other than the person defamed by the statement);


If the defamatory matter is of public concern, fault amounting at least to negligence on the part of the publisher; and


Damage to the plaintiff.





However the above referenced site goes on to suggest that libel cases are not necessarily reccomended b/c they tend to generate more publicity for the libelous statement than for the ultimate resolution of the case
Reply:Defamation, whether by libel or slander, are both expressly exempted by various laws from First Amendment protection. Also, continuing to post in violation of a judge's order constitutes contempt of court. Both of these are crimes that can trigger jail time - in addition to civil penalties like large monetary damages.





Good luck
Reply:Yes, free speech is a double edged sword, one has to take the good with the bad. More to the point, an online blogger is afforded a certain amount of anonimity.





Even if you could trace the blog to a certain IP address, identifying the actual individual could prove difficult. Creating a fake online identity is far easier than most people imagine.





As an example, a MO girl named Megan Weir commited sucide because of messages she recived from a guy on myspace. Turns out the account created was a fake account.

rotten teeth