The Basis for Particular person Rights and Expression (FIRE) introduced on Tuesday their resolution to characterize an Iowa pollster entangled in a lawsuit with President-elect Trump stemming from a November ballot from famend pollster Ann Selzer that confirmed him shedding to Vice President Harris.
“Trump’s lawsuit, brought under an Iowa law against ‘consumer fraud,’ violates long-standing constitutional principles. It’s also entirely meritless under the Iowa law,” FIRE launched in an article following the announcement.
“The lawsuit is the very definition of a ‘SLAPP’ suit — a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. Such tactical claims are filed purely for the purpose of imposing punishing litigation costs on perceived opponents, not because they have any merit or stand any chance of success,” they added. “In other words, the lawsuit is the punishment.”
The group claims the ballot was an outlier that projected inaccurate predictions unintentionally and didn’t violate the legislation.
Trump alleges the ballot printed within the Des Moines Register was meant to “deceive” voters.
“Millions of Americans, including Plaintiff, residents of Iowa, and Iowans who contributed to President Trump’s Campaign and its affiliated entities (the “Trump 2024 Campaign”), had been deceived by the doctored Harris Ballot,” the previous president’s attorneys wrote within the authorized submitting.
“President Trump has made impactful, widely read statements on the matter, writing on Truth Social, inter alia, that Selzer’s misconduct caused ‘great distrust and uncertainty at a very critical time.’”
Selzer’s attorneys say the lawsuit violates First Modification rights, echoing Selzer’s unique public assertion that she had no intent of wrongdoing.
“I am mystified about what the motivation anybody thinks I had and would act on in such a public poll,” Selzer said throughout an interview on PBS’s “Iowa Press.”
“So, the idea that I intentionally set up to deliver this response, when I’ve never done that before, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to do it, it’s not my ethic.”
Supply hyperlink