(ST. PAUL, Minn.)–The Liberty Justice Center has joined a critical First Amendment case, Kohls v. Ellison, urging the court to protect the rights of creators to engage in political parody and satire without fear of government prosecution. The Liberty Justice Center has filed an amicus brief urging the court to grant a rehearing en banc with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
The case centers on a challenge to Minnesota’s new “anti-deepfake” law, which criminalizes the use of AI-generated content that is “so realistic” it could fool a reasonable person. Christopher Kohls, a content creator known for political satire, challenged the law after producing a parody video of Former Vice President Kamala Harris. While a panel of the Eighth Circuit recently ruled that Kohls lacked standing—suggesting the law might not apply to parody—the Liberty Justice Center argues that this interpretation ignores the plain text of the statute and leaves creators in a dangerous state of legal uncertainty.
In making this decision, the court effectively denied Kohls his day in court while leaving him and other creators vulnerable to future prosecution by state officials who may interpret the law differently.
“Citizens need to be able to challenge vague and overbroad laws that infringe on speech,” said Reilly Stephens, Senior Counsel and Director of Amicus Practice for the Liberty Justice Center. “It is not the place for courts to decide at the outset that prosecutors wouldn’t be crazy enough to go after parody as fact—and as we’ve learned over and over again, the process is the punishment.”
In a changing technological world, the interpretations of the First Amendment and what it protects is vitally important. Given that high-ranking officials have already called for the removal of parody content, like the kind being produced by Mr. Kohls, his fear of further legal persecution is both reasonable and documented.
The Liberty Justice Center is asking the Eighth Circuit to grant a rehearing to resolve the confusion surrounding the “arguably proscribed” standard and to affirm that the First Amendment protects the right to use new technologies for traditional forms of political expression.
The Liberty Justice Center has a long history of defending the right to speak freely on matters of public concern, and will continue to stand up for Americans who have had this right unlawfully stripped. Read more about the Liberty Justice Center’s efforts in the Free Speech space here.
The Liberty Justice Center’s amicus brief in Kohls v. Ellison can be found here.