Geoffrey R. Stone on Election Flyer Controversy and the First Amendment

Who paid for 'Crooked Joe' election flyers? Judge orders release of names behind McHenry candidate smear campaign

Geoffrey Stone, a law professor and First Amendment scholar at the University of Chicago, said the Constitutional right to anonymous speech is not unlimited, though he said it’s not clear what side of that line the McHenry case would fall.

He agreed that simply calling someone a crook isn’t enough to upend the right to anonymity.

“A more specific statement of wrongdoing, alleging specific facts, could be libel,” Stone said. But he added that when it comes to speech about a public official or candidate for public office, “the burden on the plaintiff is very high, and the right of anonymity is especially important to protect free speech.”

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