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United States · Bill · S

S. 449 (111th)

Free Speech Protection Act of 2009

openUnited States· United States Congress· EN

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

Rule of law

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

  1. 13 February 2009

    Introduced

    Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

    Source: IntroReferral

  2. 13 February 2009

    Introduced

    Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S2342-2343)

    Source: IntroReferral

  3. 13 February 2009

    Introduced

    Introduced in Senate

    Source: IntroReferral

  4. 23 February 2010

    Committee

    Committee on the Judiciary. Hearings held.

    Source: Committee

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

Documents

3 official files

Introduced in Senate (text)

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  • Introduced in Senate (text)

    Introduced in Senate · EN · 13 February 2009

    ViewDownloadOpen at official source

  • Introduced in Senate (PDF)

    Introduced in Senate · EN · 13 February 2009

    ViewDownloadOpen at official source

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  • Introduced in Senate

    summary · EN · 13 February 2009

    Open at official source

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Sponsors

Related records

Sources

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