Anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss not granted in defamation suit

First Amendment attorneys are watching a defamation suit filed by the founder of a conservative Christian group against two former State Board of Education candidates.

David Barton, founder of the Wallbuilders ministry filed the suit last fall against former 2010 SBOE candidates Judy Jennings and Rebecca Bell-Metereau.

At issue is a statement made in a 2010 campaign ad that Barton was “known for speaking at white supremacist rallies.”

Julie Ford, an attorney representing Jennings and Bell-Metereau told Austin’s Quorum Report that

“Barton’s appearance at a couple of events 20 years ago was well known in the mainstream media and had even been addressed in an interview with Barton on MSNBC.”

Ford filed an anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss the case but it was denied Feb. 2 by Judge Graham Quisenberry in Parker County.

Read more about the case here and here.