SLAPPing Down Protest

Ralph welcomes Deepa Padmanabha, senior legal advisor to Greenpeace USA, to discuss that organization’s looming trial against Energy Transfer Partners (builder of the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock) that threatens the constitutionally protected First Amendment right of citizens and citizen groups to protest. Plus, Josh Paul, former State Department employee, who resigned in protest over the Biden Administration’s policy of sending weapons to support Israel’s genocide in Gaza, returns to tell us about an organization he co-founded called “A New Policy,” which as the name suggests envisions an American policy toward the Middle East more in line with the “foundational principles of liberty, equality, democracy, and human rights; advancing American interests abroad; and protecting American freedoms at home.”

Deepa Padmanabha is Senior Legal Advisor at Greenpeace USA, where she works closely with environmental activists seeking to exercise their First Amendment rights to promote systemic change. In September 2022, she testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Greenpeace USA’s experience with legal attacks from extractive industries and the importance of federal anti-SLAPP legislation. And her work has focused on defending Greenpeace entities in the US against two SLAPP lawsuits attempting to silence the organization’s advocacy work.

This was not a Greenpeace campaign—and that was very intentional. And so our very limited involvement was solidarity with the Indigenous tribes, the Indigenous water protectors that were carrying this fight…Personally, I don't think that Energy Transfer likes the optics of going after Indigenous people. I think that it's much easier to go after the “Big Greens”, the “agitators”, things like that—and they probably would be dealing with a much more difficult PR campaign if they went after members of tribes.

Deepa Padmanabha

Back in 2016 and 2017, when the original civil RICO cases were filed against the Greenpeace entities (all of these fights started out as RICO), many groups across issue areas were deeply concerned that this would be the new tactic used to go to attack labor, to attack human rights, to attack every kind of organization imaginable. And so what we did at that time (Greenpeace USA was a part of it as well as other groups) is we've created a coalition called Protect the Protest. Protect the Protest is a coalition of organizations to provide support for individuals who are threatened with SLAPPs, who receive cease-and-desist letters, who might want help either finding a lawyer or communication support. Because we know that the individuals bringing these lawsuits want the fights to happen in silence. So a big part of the work that needs to be done—and that we do—is to bring attention to them.

Deepa Padmanabha

Past SLAPP lawsuits by corporations intended to wear down the citizen groups, cost them all kinds of legal fees. There have been SLAPP lawsuits for citizen groups just having a news conference or citizen groups being part of a town meeting. Or in the case of Oprah Winfrey, who was sued by at Texas meat company because she had a critic of the meat industry on her show that reached millions of people. That case was settled. So, this is the furthest extension of suppression of free speech by these artificial entities called corporations.

Ralph Nader

Josh Paul is co-founder (with Tariq Habash) of A New Policy, which seeks to transform U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. He .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}