Woodhull, Others Appeal District Court Dismissal of FOSTA Lawsuit (AVN)

Read the full article by Mark Kernes at AVN.com

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Last night, the Woodhull Freedom Foundation and its co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit seeking to strike down the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017, better known as "FOSTA," filed their appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The appeal seeks to overturn the ruling last September by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon which dismissed the action, making the ludicrous assertion that none of the plaintiffs in the suit had legal standing to bring the claim because, as the government claimed, "none of the Appellants were injured by FOSTA."

Those plaintiffs/appellants include, besides Woodhull, Human Rights Watch, individual plaintiffs Eric Koszyk and Jesse Maley (aka Alex Andrews), and The Internet Archive. The plaintiffs also expect at least a dozen other human rights and sex worker advocacy groups, including Free Speech Coalition, to file amicus briefs in support of Woodhull's position.

Simply put, the appellate brief in this case is exhaustive in setting forth the errors in both the government's agruments in favor of maintaining FOSTA among the federal statutes and Judge Leon's errors in striking down the lawsuit. The brief also asks the appellate court to issue a preliminary injunction against FOSTA's enforcement, and anyone knowledgeable about the workings of the First Amendment can easily see the merits of the plaintiffs/appellants' case.

No date for oral argument has yet been scheduled in the case. Those interested in reading the appellants' brief may do so here.