the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Englewood Cliffs NJ, this story is about a lawyer who works for a New Jersey municipality Englewood Cliffs ,suing the newly elected mayor and his two council running mates who won the Nov 2023 election.
According to the defendants, the lawsuit was filed as a political tool to interfere with the election the defendants won as well as to threaten, punish, silence and deter them from discussing matters of public concern.
Anti-SLAPP laws provide defendants a way to quickly dismiss meritless lawsuits—known as “SLAPPs” or “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation”—filed against them for exercising their First Amendment rights.
The court denied the defendant’s request for a brief adjournment to find legal counsel followed by immediately ruling against them. Although there was no emergency, it seems the court went out of the way to grant an unconstitutional permanent restraint against the defendants.
See court or der:
https://newjerseymonitor.com/
As journalists, this story and ANTI–SLAPP case should concern you because according to the following article “Despite the fact that the case doesn’t directly involve the press, it could still have significant implications for reporters and new outlets.”
https://freedom.press/news/
This story has gained the attention of those who advocated for the law and hope you cover it because a ruling is imminent:
The defendants have made a preliminary showing of a reasonable probability of ultimate success on the merits. The defendants’ position is strong (see attached) and you may consider citing this NJ UPEPA case because it is the state’s first and just recently signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy.
https://www.nj.gov/governor/
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More important look at the order filed by Judge Farrington on 3/1 against Kranjac.