The legal nonprofit, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), announced it will represent pollster Ann Selzer and her company pro bono against a lawsuit brought by president-elect Donald Trump last month.
The lawsuit claims Selzer’s Iowa Poll, which showed Democrat Kamala Harris leading by three points in the state days before the election, was a form of “brazen election interference” and violated Iowa’s Consumer Fraud Act. Trump won the state by 13 points in the election.
The two other plaintiffs in the case, The Des Moines Register and The Register’s parent company, Gannett, are represented by the international firm Faegre Drinker. The case was originally filed in Polk County, but transferred to a federal court after a petition from Gannett.
FIRE files lawsuits and provides legal defense in cases related to free speech. Adam Steinbaugh, an attorney with FIRE, said he considers the case a ‘SLAPP’ suit – or a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. SLAPP suits have little legal grounding and are filed by parties to dissuade critics from producing negative publicity about them.
“The point of the lawsuit is not to win the claim, but to make someone pay the legal fees and go through the hassle of defending against a lawsuit and getting that lawsuit dismissed,” said Steinbaugh.
Anti-SLAPP statutes can protect parties and individuals from SLAPP suits by requiring plaintiffs to show they have supporting evidence at the outset of the case. If they cannot provide sufficient evidence, the case is dismissed, and the plaintiff is required to pay the defendant’s attorney’s fees.
The nonpartisan nonprofit group, The Institute for Free Speech, reports 33 states and the District of Columbia had anti-SLAPP statutes as of 2023. Iowa currently does not have anti-SLAPP statutes.
Steinbaugh said by providing its services pro bono, FIRE hopes to take away one of the incentives for filing SLAPP lawsuits. He said the case is similar to many with which the organization works.
“It's comparable to the other cases that we've worked on, in that someone is trying to use the legal system to burden someone's protected speech,” Steinbaugh said. “I think the only real difference here is that, in this case, it involves the president elect of the United States.”
The Center for American Rights also filed a lawsuit in Polk County against Selzer, her polling company, The Register and Gannett on behalf of a Des Moines Register subscriber, Dennis Donnelly. In recent months, the Chicago-based group has also filed FCC complaints against NBC and CBS over appearances by Kamala Harris on SNL and 60 Minutes.
The suit claims The Register defrauded subscribers by “deliver[ing] the dictionary definition of fake news” and claims the poll was an “intentionally deceptive misrepresentation.” The suit requests the plaintiffs pay Des Moines Register subscribers to the Sunday Edition as of November 3, 2024 the equivalent of one year’s subscription.
The complaint stated that a request for the suit to be expanded to a class action claim was submitted to the attorney general. The request has yet to be approved.
A spokesperson from FIRE confirmed the group will also defend Selzer and her company in the suit filed by the Center for American Rights.
