Protecting Journalism Abroad

A bill to protect American journalists from frivolous foreign libel lawsuits soon will be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee. We urge senators to pass "The Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage Act," introduced by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. It's expected to receive broad bipartisan support. Similar legislation overwhelmingly passed the House.

The legislation would protect American authors, reporters and publishers from lawsuits filed in countries where free-speech protections are substantially weaker than the U.S. First Amendment. Collection of foreign judgments from U.S. writers would be barred in the U.S. when the foreign country's libel standards don't match American law.

The legislation grew out of a Great Britain libel judgment against Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, author of "Funding Evil: How Terrorism is financed — and How to Stop It." The 2003 book reported Saudi billionaire Khalid bin Mahfouz had funded al-Qaida, Hamas and other terrorist organizations.

Mr. Mahfouz sued Dr.

Ehrenfeld in London, under Britain's more plaintiff-friendly libel law. The court awarded a default judgment, ordering Dr. Ehrenfeld to pay $250,000, destroy all copies of her book, retract her statements and pay Mahfouz's substantial legal fees. She refused.

The Senate legislation also provides authors and publishers the ability to obtain declaratory relief to demonstrate a foreign judgment wouldn't be enforceable under American law, even if the foreign party didn't attempt to enforce the judgment in the U.S.

Six states, including California and New York, have adopted similar laws recently, but the federal legislation would extend the protection to throughout the nation against lawsuits that don't rise to U.S. standards. At least two cases of libel are pending against U.S. journalists in Brazil and Canada, among other instances of bullying and threats to cower writers into apologies and retractions.

Freedom of the press is a foundational American right. This legislation and similar efforts properly seek to guarantee that journalists aren't victimized by insufficient foreign protections. If foreigners truly are libeled, they may still receive a just judgment in a U.S. court, according to U.S. standards.

REPRINTED FROM THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER.

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