Calling Shirley Sherrod's lawsuit an attempt to dampen free speech, lawyers for conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart have asked a federal court to throw out her case, according to the Associated Press.
Ahem. Sherrod's case dampens free speech? Let's review the reason for the suit in the first place.
Last year, Sherrod resigned under pressure from her job in Georgia at the U.S. Department of Agriculture after Breitbart posted an edited video of her supposedly making racist remarks at an NAACP event. It was later revealed that the speech was about racial reconciliation. As a result of the widespread fallout, Sherrod sued Breitbart, one of his employees and an unnamed defendant for defamation and emotional stress.
The real threat to dampening free speech appears to be the matter at hand: the edited video, not the suit prompted by it.
Read more at the Associated Press, and see prior coverage involving Shirley Sherrod on The Root.
In other news: Defense Rests in Serial Killer Trial.