Judge throws out Hunt’s defamation suit against Nebraska Freedom Coalition

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — A judge in Douglas County on Wednesday dismissed a defamation lawsuit over social media posts by a conservative political action committee.

District Judge Todd O. Engleman said posts by the Nebraska Freedom Coalition referring to State Sen. Megan Hunt as a “groomer” were protected by the First Amendment.

The group published the posts on the platform formerly known as Twitter last spring, when lawmakers were debating Legislative Bill 574, which limited gender-affirming health care for minors.

Hunt sued the Nebraska Freedom Coalition in June, arguing that the group defamed her by saying she groomed and abused her 13-year-old child.

The judge found that the posts were assertions of opinion, not fact, and therefore not defamatory.

Part of Engleman’s reasoning is that the posts include “exaggerated language,” such as referring to the Lincoln Journal Star as the “Lincoln Urinal Star.”

“This type of language demonstrates that the tweets are not meant to be read literally,” Engleman wrote. “Viewing the tweets as a whole, they are of the same type of statements that are ‘rhetorical hyperbole’ which the United States Supreme Court has found to be protected opinion.”

In 1964, the Supreme Court set a high bar for defamation cases involving public officials, saying robust debate allows even “vehement” and “caustic” attacks.

“The language and imagery used by Defendants may be described as ‘vehement,’ and ‘caustic,’ Engleman wrote. “However, the First Amendment protects the right of the Coalition to tweet its opinion that opposition to LB 574 is equivalent to grooming behavior.”