DowneastDem v. Kennedy

Robert Kennedy Jr. contends that a blogger on the Daily Kos website defamed him by noting the fact that, in giving a speech in Berlin as a mass protest against government efforts to stem the coronavirus pandemic, Kennedy had joined in with Neo-Nazis and other German rightwing extremist elements. Kennedy obtained permission from a New York judge to serve a subpoena on Kos Media to identify the blogger and then domesticated the subpoena in California. Pursuant to our longstanding efforts to ensure that discovery to identify anonymous online speakers is pursued only by parties who can present good evidence and legal argument that the speech is wrongful, we represent the blogger seeking to quash the subpoena. Meanwhile, Kos Media appealed the New York trial court’s decision authorizing discovery. The California court stayed consideration of the motion to quash while the appeal in New York is pending.