Gloria Allred Asks Authorities to Investigate Rush Limbaugh

Feminist attorney-activist Gloria Allred is asking authorities in Florida to figure out whether Rush Limbaugh violated laws when he ridiculed Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke.

In a letter to County Attorney Denise Nieman in West Palm Beach, Florida, dated March 8, Allred says Limbaugh may have violated a misdemeanor statute against defamation.

"Mr. Limbaugh has publicly acknowledged that his reference to Ms. Fluke as a 'slut' and a 'prostitute' were baseless and false," Allred wrote.

Allred said Nieman's office should "open an investigation into whether or not Mr. Rush Limbaugh is in violation of Section 836.04 of Florida Statutes.

The statute, according to Allred, reads: "Whoever speaks of and concerning any woman, married or unmarried, falsely and maliciously imputing to her a want of chastity, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree."

Rush was joking, and poking fun at the stupidity of Fluke’s testimony. The reason it was a joke was because it was utterly unbelievable that Fluke was having sex 1-2,000 times each year.

I see Mr Rogers is still playing lawyer.

Political Junkie Too, you don't want to be embarrassed when you discuss Fluke in front of liberals; you'll want facts. If you're going to rely on the legal analysis of non-attorneys, you may want to ask then for their analysis of Limbaugh's many other comments, such when he called Fluke "a woman who is happily presenting herself as an immoral, baseless, no-purpose-to-her life woman." One poster says it's a sterling example of Limbaugh's sense of humor. On the other hand that sentence was such a problem (or 'so funny') that Limbaugh's staff completely removed it from the transcript a full day before it removed the rest of the now-redacted transcript.

You may want to ask yourself if everything Limbaugh said was so clearly parody and satire, why do so many people on FR thought and still think Fluke talked about her sex life, when she didn't. Or ask why so many people here thought and still think she said she was having a lot of sex, when she didn't mention her sex life.

And be certain you get your money's worth from free, non-layer legal advice, Political Junkie Too. As how the poster applies Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1988), the believability of parody elements addressed in one of the underlying cases, Falwell v. Flynt, 797 F.2d 1270 (4th Cir. 1986); Smith v. Stewart, 660 SE 2d 822, 831-832 (Ga. Ct. App. 2008); Smith v. Atkins, 622 So.2d 795, 800 (La. Ct. App.1993); Bryson v. News America Publications, 672 N.E.2d 1207, 1217(I) (1996); Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323; Time, Inc. v. Firestone, 424 U.S. 448 (U.S. 1976); Secord v. Cockburn, 747 F.Supp. 779 (1990); Associated Press v. Walker, 389 U.S. 28 (1967).

I didn't just cut and paste those. I've read each of them (and many other cases) this week regarding a specific point on this issue.

Gloria Allred and Sandra Fluke? Two ultra-feminists peas in a pod.

I'm not familiar with Florida Stat. 836.04, the criminal statute the ever-present Allred cites. It's at odds with Florida's abandonment of common law civil per se defamation of a woman's virtue through use of the word 'slut' and similar words ('prostitute' is different, as it suggests criminal behavior). If I have time, I'll see if 836.04 has been cited by any cases lately.

I don't know how Florida's criminal defamation statute meshes with limited public figures.

There are also 'apology provisions' in 836.08:

If it appears upon the trial that said article was published in good faith; that its falsity was due to an honest mistake of the facts; that there were reasonable grounds for believing that the statements in said article were true; and that, within the period of time specified in subsection (2), a full and fair correction, apology, and retraction was published in the same editions or corresponding issues of the newspaper or periodical in which said article appeared, and in as conspicuous place and type as was said original article, then any criminal proceeding charging libel based on an article so retracted shall be discontinued and barred.

The 'subsection (2)' referred to requires broadcast apologies with ten days. It's silent as to the period required for apologies for internet publications, but I can't imagine they would be shorter.

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