The New Hampshire Supreme Court dismissed a defamation case Wednesday against the Union Leader and an op-ed writer who penned a piece about racism and the classroom.
The opinion piece, which was written by Robert Azzi in the Union Leader in June 2021, discussed policies around teaching race in schools.
In the article, Azzi accused the plaintiff, Daniel Richard of Hanover, and others of “disseminating white supremacist ideology” by submitting public testimony supporting a bill that would prohibit certain classroom discussions around race.
Richards originally filed suit in September 2021 against Azzi and the Union Leader, and appealed his case to the Supreme Court after it was thrown out by the Grafton Superior Court.
Gilles Bissonette, the legal director for the ACLU, filed an amicus brief in support of the Union Leader and Azzi. He said they felt the case was important because of the possible repercussions of the court ruling against the op-ed writer.
“When you have political opinions, it needs to be zealously protected under the First Amendment,” Bissonette said. “It can't be actionable and subject to suit for defamation, because to allow those types of lawsuits would have a massive chilling effect on political speech. And that's what would have happened if this case was allowed to proceed.”
The bill, which later became law, that Azzi criticized limited certain kinds of teachings on racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression. It has since been struck down in federal court.
