Doug Mastriano wants to shut this historian up!

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Read the press release: https://www.thefire.org/news/lawsuit-...

BREAKING: After historian James P. Gregory Jr. criticized PA state Sen. Doug Mastriano’s historical scholarship, Mastriano sued him for defamation, racketeering, and antitrust violations.

Now, FIRE is defending James’ right to criticize public officials.

In 2022, James reported over two hundred issues — including possible academic fraud — with Mastriano’s research on WWI hero Sgt. York. Debating important issues is protected speech and a necessary part of our democracy.

Mastriano’s lawsuit is a textbook Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP). SLAPPs are censorship-by-lawsuit: They chill speech by forcing the speaker to choose between costly litigation or self-censorship. Even if a SLAPP plaintiff loses, they punish the speaker.

“Mastriano’s lawsuit is a threat to academic freedom,” said FIRE attorney Sara Berinhout. “Historians settle debates in the marketplace of ideas, not the courtroom. And they certainly don’t claim their critics are racketeers like Al Capone.”

In 2014, Oklahoma passed a law allowing judges to quickly dismiss SLAPP suits and force the person who filed the lawsuit to pay legal fees.

Today, FIRE is using this law and moving to dismiss Mastriano’s lawsuit to protect James’ rights as a historian and an American.