First Amendment Lawyer Will Defend Neo-Nazi In Montana Case
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Sam Kestenbaum June 13, 2017
A lawyer specializing in free-speech cases is representing neo-Nazi publisher Andrew Anglin who has been sued for orchestrating an online trolling campaign against a Jewish real estate agent and her family in Whitefish, Montana.
Las Vegas lawyer Marc Randazza is defending the Daily Stormer’s founder against a federal lawsuit that Tanya Gersh filed against him in April, the Associated Press reported. The Southern Poverty Law Center is representing Gersh.
“Everybody deserves to have their constitutional rights defended,” Randazza said. “Nobody needs the First Amendment to protect Mr. Rogers. That’s not what it’s there for.”
Anglin has raised more than $152,000 towards his defense on a crowdfunding website.
Gersh’s suit claims internet trolls bombarded her family with hateful and threatening messages after Anglin called for a “campaign of terror” and posted their personal information on his website.
In a string of posts, Anglin accused Gersh and other Jewish residents and activists in Whitefish of engaging in an “extortion racket” against the mother of white nationalist Richard Spencer, who lives in Whitefish.
Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
