United States · Bill · S
S. 449 (111th)
Free Speech Protection Act of 2009
Introduced
13 February 2009
Last action
23 February 2010 · Committee
Status
Committee on the Judiciary. Hearings held.
Sponsors
Sen. Specter, Arlen [R-PA], Sen. Lieberman, Joseph I. [ID-CT], Sen. Schumer, Charles E. [D-NY], Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR]
Subjects
Rule of law
Source updated
10 August 2026
Summary
Free Speech Protection Act of 2009 - Allows any U.S. person against whom a lawsuit for defamation is brought in a foreign country for defamation on the basis of the content of any speech by that person that has been published, uttered, or otherwise disseminated in the United States to bring an action in a U.S. district court against any person who, or entity which, brought the suit, if: (1) the speech at issue in the foreign lawsuit does not constitute defamation under U.S. law; and (2) the person or entity which brought the foreign lawsuit serves or causes to be served any documents in connection with such foreign lawsuit on a U.S. person. Allows the award of treble damages if it is determined by a preponderance of the evidence that the person or entity bringing the foreign lawsuit intentionally engaged in a scheme to suppress rights under the First Amendment to the Constitution by discouraging publishers or other media from publishing, or by discouraging financial supporters from employing, retaining, or supporting the research, writing, or other speech of an individual.
This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.
Timeline
13 February 2009
Introduced
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Source: IntroReferral
13 February 2009
Introduced
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S2342-2343)
Source: IntroReferral
13 February 2009
Introduced
Introduced in Senate
Source: IntroReferral
23 February 2010
Committee
Committee on the Judiciary. Hearings held.
Source: Committee
Votes
No vote records are attached yet.
Versions
- Introduced in Senate · 13 February 2009 · Download file
Documents
3 official files
Introduced in Senate (text)
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Introduced in Senate (text)
Introduced in Senate · EN · 13 February 2009
Introduced in Senate (PDF)
Introduced in Senate · EN · 13 February 2009
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Introduced in Senate
summary · EN · 13 February 2009
Leesvertaling
Vertaal dit document naar jouw taal. PoliticalRepo bewaart geen aparte kopie per EU-taal.
Documentvertaling op verzoek met downloadbare PDF (logo + link naar de officiële bron). Het bronbestand blijft leidend.
Sponsors
- Sen. Specter, Arlen [R-PA] · R · Sponsor
- Sen. Lieberman, Joseph I. [ID-CT] · ID · Sponsor
- Sen. Schumer, Charles E. [D-NY] · D · Sponsor
- Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR] · D · Cosponsor
- · ssju00 · Standing
Related records
- related to → Free Speech Protection Act of 2009
Sources
PoliticalRepo is an index and interpretation layer, not the authoritative legal source.
- Official source: https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/senate-bill/449
- Open data entity: https://api.congress.gov/v3/bill/111/s/449
- us · 111-s-449 · source updated 10 August 2026