In 2006, when confronted with an anti-SLAPP defense motion, rabbi Mordechai Tendler withdrew subpoenas to Google, in which he sought the identity of anonymous bloggers who had commented on his dismissal from a New York synagogue over allegations of sexual relations with members of the congregation.
He's back ...
Public Citizen reports on its Consumer Law & Policy Blog that the "Randy Rabbi" is back, once again armed with a subpoena aimed at discovering the identity of the same anonymous bloggers.
Tendler obtained a liability judgment against the synagogue that dismissed him, and now claims that he needs to know the identity of the anonymous bloggers to gather evidence in support of his damages claim against the synagogue.
The Public Citizen blog piece has a link to a page it maintains about the subpoena efforts, including a link to the memo in support of a motion to quash the subpoena, which was filed recently in a New York trial court by the Public Citizen Litigation Group on behalf of the anonymous bloggers.
The bases of the motion to quash are that Tendler failed to comply with a New York state procedural requirement that he state the reasons why the disclosure he seeks is warranted, and because enforcement of the subpoena would violate the bloggers' First Amendment rights.
No comments:
Post a Comment