Farrakhan and Nation of Islam Lose Major Defamation Case – IOTW Report

Farrakhan and Nation of Islam Lose Major Defamation Case

Jonathan Turley

There is an interesting defamation case out of New York in which the Second Circuit upheld the dismissal of the lawsuit by Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam (NOI) against the Anti-Defamation League (“ADL”) and individual defendants Jonathan Greenblatt, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and Rabbi Abraham Cooper. Not only did the court reject the claim that canceled speeches resulted from alleged defamatory statements, but it also noted that the statements about NOI are protected opinions.

In Farrakhan v. Anti-Defamation League, Judges Susan L. Carney, Joseph F. Bianco, and William J. Nardini upheld the lower court’s dismissal of what they described as Farrakhan’s “sprawling allegations.”

District Court Judge Denise Cote (S.D.N.Y.) first dismissed the case, noting that it was based on a publication that quoted Farrakhan at length. She also noted that, after quoting Farrakhan, the ADL post titled “Farrakhan Predicts Another Holocaust” was clearly an opinion piece. The so-called “Ticketmaster Letter” ended with the hyperlinked statement that “[y]ou can learn more about Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam on our website.” more

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