Thursday, April 4, 2013

Take That Chevron: There's A First Amendment After All

Reposted from The Chevron Pit

Chevron took a severe punch yesterday in its home state of California when a judge there ruled to ditch the oil giant's subpoena against an environmental group that has been highly critical of the company concerning its massive contamination of the Ecuadorian rainforest. See the Reuters story here.

"I must err on the side of protecting the First Amendment activity," wrote California Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins.

The subpoena request results from a Chevron lawsuit in a New York court, where the company is arguing that Amazon Watch and others, including Chevron's own shareholders, are part of a grand conspiracy to "extort" money from it by applying public pressure through protests, advocacy in front of elected officials and negative media coverage.

Memo to Chevron: The First Amendment is in the Bill of Rights.

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