It’s a good thing that MSNBC has promoted Joy Reid because it looks like she may need the money. The Second Court of Appeals has reinstated a defamation lawsuit against the racist TV host. Roslyn La Liberte, a Trump supporter in 2018 was slandered by Reid who made up a story out of whole cloth.
Reid claimed that La Liberte had yelled racist slurs at a 14 year old boy. Reid sent out a series of tweets from a picture showing her in what appeared to be an adversarial pose. Remember, this was a picture and therefore, she had no idea what was being said, meaning she had to make up what the conversation was about.
Reid made a series of accusations against La Liberte including saying that she was yelling racist slurs, told the boy he would be the first one to be deported and claimed that La Liberte called the boy a dirty Mexican. None of this happened and nowhere else did anyone make such specific charges.
A district court judge claimed that there was no proof that Reid made her charges out of malice and he dismissed La Liberte’s charges.
But, Joseph Luevanos, the 14 year old boy said that the conversation was very cordial and in no way was La Liberte being a racist. That prompted the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the decision of the district court judge. The judge had claimed that La Liberte could not prove Reid acted with malice even though she had made everything up.
It appears I got this wrong. My apologies to Mrs. La Liberte and Joseph. https://t.co/J8vZsCwAvs
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) July 2, 2018
La Liberte appealed the decision, saying that her lawsuit had been improperly dismissed and the Second Circuit Court disagreed with the judge’s use of the SLAPP statute that ostensibly exists as a protection for the First Amendment.
In turn, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals revived the claims Wednesday. Following this decision, the federal appellate circuit deemed that laws such as California’s anti-SLAPP statute don’t count for federal court.
“Reid urges us to follow the Ninth Circuit, which holds that California’s anti-SLAPP statute and the Federal Rules can exist side by side . . . without conflict,” Judge Dennis Jacobs wrote according to Hollywood Reporter. “We disagree.”
