Court of Appeal Affirms Dismissal of $4.8 Billion Defamation Suit by Farrakhan, Nation of Islam Against Simon Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt

LOS ANGELES – The United States Court of Appeal for theSecond Circuit has affirmed the Southern District of New York’s dismissal of a $4.8 billion defamation lawsuit filed in October 2023 by Louis Farrakhan and Nation of Islam (“NOI”) against the Simon Wiesenthal Center (“SWC”) and Rabbi Abraham Cooper, SWC's Associate Dean & Global Social ActionDirector (together the “SWC Defendants”), as well as the Anti-Defamation League and its CEOJonathan Greenblatt. Farrakhan and NOI claimed that the SWC Defendants were defaming thembecause the SWC Defendantsrepeatedly called their comments antisemitic. 

The appellate court noted that Plaintiffs’ “sprawling allegations” in the150-page Complaint, with respect to the SWC Defendants, boil down todefamation claims arising from the SWCDefendants’ references to plaintiffs as antisemitic. The SWCDefendants countered that they have a constitutional right to express their opinion about what they believe is antisemitichate speech, stating in their brief that “Plaintiffs seekhere to rewrite decades of legal precedent and overturn the First Amendment’s protection of free speech.” The Court of Appeals upheldthe Southern District Court’s dismissal of the claims, confirming that the SWC Defendants’comments calling Farrakhan and NOIantisemitic were non-actionable opinion statements thatwere protected by the United States Constitution and New York law.

The SWC Defendants attorney, Julie Gerchik of Glaser Weil Fink Howard Jordan & Shapiro LLP, said, “This ruling not onlyaffirms the right to call out antisemitic statements, but hate speech of allkind. Our firm is proud to have represented the SimonWiesenthal Center and Rabbi Cooper in this important case, and I thank PattyGlaser in particular for her unwavering support.”

For further information, pleaseemail Michael Sitrick mike_sitrick@sitrick.com; TerryFahn terry_fahn@sitrick.com; Yael barTur ybartur@sitrick.com.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is an international Jewish human rightsorganization. It holds consultative status at the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the OAS, and the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO).