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Attorney General John Ashcroft Summoned to Answer Online Gambling Free Speech Complaint
26 August 2004Casino City, Inc. reported today that Attorney General John Ashcroft and U.S. Attorney David Dugas have been summoned by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. Earlier this month Casino City filed a complaint against the United States Department of Justice seeking a declaratory judgment that advertising online casinos and sportsbooks is constitutionally protected commercial free speech under the First Amendment of the United States.
Over the past year the Justice Department sent threatening letters to the National Association of Broadcasters and other organizations and issued subpoenas to a variety of media outlets. These actions have been widely reported and have had a chilling effect upon free speech. Popular Internet portals including Google and Yahoo have ceased accepting advertising for online casinos and sportsbooks. Many individuals view the actions of the DOJ as a form of blackmail based on the belief of a few government officials rather than established legal principles.
Under the terms of the summons, the Department of Justice must answer the complaint within 30 days. The complaint argues the application of laws cited by the DOJ in its threatening letters is unconstitutional and that intimidation through threats of their application violates the First Amendment right to free speech. Casino City and the DOJ must file a status report by December 2nd, and a scheduling conference is set for December 16th.
The government could concede advertising online gaming sites is legal. Casino City’s attorney Barry Richard says “… it’s possible and hopeful, so far as my client is concerned, that the Department of Justice will say ‘We didn’t mean to threaten organizations that are engaged in the type of advertising that your client is,’ and that would be fine with us. It would clear the air for those people who have been and would like to continue to do this.”
Casino City operates http://www.CasinoCity.com, the most popular gaming site on the web covering online casinos and sportsbooks, land-based casinos, gaming strategy, and news. It is part of a network of websites including http://Online.CasinoCity.com devoted to online gaming, and http://www.CasinoCityTimes.com covering gaming news.
The complaint, the summons, the scheduling order, and additional information on the case can be found on the web at http://Online.CasinoCity.com/FirstAmendment.
Gotta love CasinoCity and his efforts, thanks for the article Dominique.
Loving it! 😎
I do love it but watch and see the gov / ashcroft won’t address the free speech issue, but rather they’ll fall back on the old spiel of why online gambling is bad.
it will be up to CC’s attorneys to see that the subject at hand is kept there; and not allowed to run over into moral, ethical and legal issues of gambling – and also that the laws are not brought into the issue which pertain to the individual states, rather than a federal thing.
Good point.
You’re right about how Ashcroft and his team will try to deflect the issue by making it a moral issue.
Barry Richards, the lead litigator, represented George W. Bush in 46 lawsuits, so I am optimistic he and his team will skillfully anticipate the opposition’s diversion tactics and will keep the focus where it belongs, both in court and in the press.
The team of lawyers is positively excellent.
I am sure it will not be possible to pull the wool over their eyes.
I am sure it will not be possible to pull the wool over their eyes
I don’t know about that; I’ve seen some unbelievable insults to one’s intelligence which include, OJ going free, this last election (you’ve got to wonder even if you’re a republican)
the fact that you can’t sue the phone company for accidently listing your business phone number as a number not listed by request of owner (it cost the guy his business which until that year had been very lucrative but he couldn’t figure out what was wrong until it was too late; and I guess there was some trouble getting it changed back at the phone company too, or something like that) and anyway not being listed in the phone book and then the 3 or 4 month’s it took to find out the number was listed as a “private number” and he went out of biz.
So he tried to sue them and it turns out there’s a law on the books that says you can’t sue a utility company for anything more than loss of life or limb, or something like that; so anyway, the guy lost everything because the phone company screwed up and yet he had no recourse.
so do I think they can get away with it? It wouldn’t be the biggest nor the most blatant injustice that I’ve ever seen, that’s for sure.
and in this case, they’ve got the ol’ “we are just doing what is best for you and the country” theme song to lean on.
Neither OJ nor the phone company were near well as armed.
Sure, I could bring you hundreds of stupid cases based on stupid laws. Thousands. Tens of thousands. And then some.
While I totally stand behind my previous comment, it also isn’t all that important what happens at this meeting. It is only the start.
The constitution is a different thing from other types of laws, and there are no ifs, whens or buts about it’s content.
Free speech is free speech.
Originally posted by Dominique
Free speech is free speech.How can advertising be called free speech?
Putting up a page about gambling would be free speech, but selling advertising would be considered a different activity, wouldn’t it?
I”m not trying to argue or say that you are wrong or anything, as I know nothing of U.S. law. It just seems to me that the DOJ may have a leg to stand on.
Well, you’ll have to take it up with the makers of the constitution, because in the United States, advertising is explicitly covered by the freedom of speech laws. It’s the law. No two ways about it.
Thanks Dom!
I didn’t know that. Now I see what all of the fuss is about.
… And I agree. What the industry needs is regulation not prohibition.
Regulation would solve so much….I hope they see the light eventually.
Thanks for this. You made my day!
