Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 124.djvu/2406

 124 STAT. 2380 PUBLIC LAW 111–223—AUG. 10, 2010 Public Law 111–223 111th Congress An Act To amend title 28, United States Code, to prohibit recognition and enforcement of foreign defamation judgments and certain foreign judgments against the pro- viders of interactive computer services. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage Act’’ or the ‘‘SPEECH Act’’. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Congress finds the following: (1) The freedom of speech and the press is enshrined in the first amendment to the Constitution, and is necessary to promote the vigorous dialogue necessary to shape public policy in a representative democracy. (2) Some persons are obstructing the free expression rights of United States authors and publishers, and in turn chilling the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States interest of the citizenry in receiving information on matters of importance, by seeking out foreign jurisdictions that do not provide the full extent of free-speech protections to authors and publishers that are available in the United States, and suing a United States author or publisher in that foreign juris- diction. (3) These foreign defamation lawsuits not only suppress the free speech rights of the defendants to the suit, but inhibit other written speech that might otherwise have been written or published but for the fear of a foreign lawsuit. (4) The threat of the libel laws of some foreign countries is so dramatic that the United Nations Human Rights Com- mittee examined the issue and indicated that in some instances the law of libel has served to discourage critical media reporting on matters of serious public interest, adversely affecting the ability of scholars and journalists to publish their work. The advent of the internet and the international distribution of foreign media also create the danger that one country’s unduly restrictive libel law will affect freedom of expression worldwide on matters of valid public interest. (5) Governments and courts of foreign countries scattered around the world have failed to curtail this practice of permit- ting libel lawsuits against United States persons within their 28 USC 4101 note. 28 USC 1 note. Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage Act. Courts. Aug. 10, 2010 [H.R. 2765]