WASHINGTON (AP) - A colleague of the late conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart is asking a federal court of appeals to throw out a defamation case brought by former government employee Shirley Sherrod, saying it violates the blogger's right to freedom of speech.
Sherrod was ousted from her job as an Agriculture Department rural development official in 2010 after Breitbart posted an edited video of Sherrod, who is black, supposedly making racist remarks. She sued Breitbart, his employee Larry O'Connor and an unnamed defendant for defamation and emotional distress. Breitbart died unexpectedly a year ago.
The case is one of the first high-profile federal lawsuits to test the freedom of speech rights of bloggers.
The Associated Press