In 2006, D.C. good-government activist Dorothy Brizill was sued in Guam by John Baldwin, the promoter of a ballot initiative to legalize slot machine gambling there. He claimed he was injured by statements she made, in a telephone interview that was broadcast on Guam, about his role in the failed 2004 D.C. slot machines initiative that he had bankrolled. This was a classic SLAPP (“Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation”), an abusive litigation technique used to intimidate people from participating in public debate. We agreed to represent Ms. Brizill in Guam because there was no ACLU office there.
Guam has a strong anti-SLAPP statute that protects political speech more broadly than the First Amendment and that includes procedures designed to enable the prompt dismissal of cases targeting political speech. Under that law, the Guam Superior Court dismissed the case against Ms. Brizill. In 2008, the Guam Supreme Court unanimously affirmed that decision.
