Tom Hals

(Reuters] – The New York Times sued an antiimmigration author to pay for its defense against defamation. It appears that this was one of the first cases under a new “anti-SLAPP”, law which protects critical speech.

According to the lawsuit filed Tuesday, the company seeks unspecified fees for defending against a 2020 lawsuit from Peter Brimelow.

Brimelow sued the company for five articles he published in January 2019 to May 2020. They described Brimelow as a “white nationalist” while his VDARE.com site was described as “animated with race hatred.”

Brimelow claimed that the lawsuit has no merit. He stated in an email that “this lawsuit is just another attempt to raise the stakes for dissident voices (but desperately necessary) voices.”

The Times claimed in a statement, that this was the first anti-SLAPP lawsuit brought against the company. This it said represented an important step to protect itself from any defamation claims.

Brimelow has claimed that he believes the United States of America is a white country. The suit was dropped in December 2020, shortly after New York’s anti-SLAPP law was expanded. This is meant to prevent lawsuits designed to penalize defendants who speak out about public issues.

SLAPP is “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation”. Andrew Cuomo, then-Governor of New York said that the new law would allow free speech and prevent wealthy individuals from bullying their opponents.

However, the anti-SLAPP law was also embraced by powerful.

Fox News argued that a defamation suit by Smartmatic voting system company for $2 billion was against the law. Former President Donald Trump attempted unsuccessfully to use law to sue E. Jean Carroll who claimed he raped his wife in the 1990s.